The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 407 pages of information about The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801).

The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 407 pages of information about The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801).
circuit was covered as a lean-to, quite round this inner appartment, laying long rafters from the thirty-two angles to the top posts of the inner house, about twenty-feet distant, so that there was a space like a wall between the outer and inner wall, near twenty feet in breadth.  The inner place he partitioned off with the same wicker-work, dividing it into six neat apartments every one of which had a door, first into the entry of the main tent, and another into the space and walk that was round it, not only convenient for retreat, but for family necessaries.  Within the door of the outer circle, there was a passage directly to the door of the inner house; on either side was a wicker partition, and a door, by which you go into a room twenty-two feet wide, and about thirty long, and through that into another of a smaller length; so that in the outer circle were ten handsome rooms, six of which were only to be come at through the apartments of the inner tent, serving as retiring rooms to the respective chambers of the inner circle, and four large warehouses, which went in through one another, two on either hand of the passage that led through the outer door to the inner tent.  In short, nothing could be built more ingeniously, kept more neat, or have better conveniences; and here lived the three families, Will Atkins, his companion, their wives and children, and the widow of the deceased.  As to religion, the men seldom taught their wives the knowledge of God, any more than the sailors’ custom of swearing by his name.  The greatest improvement their wives had, was, they taught them to speak English, so as to be understood.

None of their children were then above six years old; they were all fruitful enough; and I think the cook’s mate’s wife was big of her sixth child.

When I inquired of the Spaniards about their circumstances while among the savages, they told me, that they abandoned themselves to despair, reckoning themselves a poor and miserable people, that had no means put into their hands, and consequently must soon be starved to death. They owned, however, that they were in the wrong to think so, and for refusing the assistance that reason offered for their support, as well as future deliverance, confessing that grief was a most insignificant passion, as it looked upon things as without remedy, and having no hope of things to come; all which verified this noted proverb,

In trouble to be troubled, Is to have your trouble doubled.

Nor did his remarks end here, for, making observations upon my improvement, and on my condition at first, infinitely worse than theirs, he told me that Englishmen had, in their distress, greater presence of mind than those of any other country that he had met with; and that they and the Portuguese were the worst men in the world to struggle under misfortunes.  When they landed among the savages, they found but little provision except they would turn cannibals, there being

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The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.