The affairs of the island being settled, I was preparing to go on board, when the young man (whose mother was starved) came to me, saying, that as he understood I had a clergyman with me, who had married the Englishmen with savages, he had a match to make between two Christians, which he desired might be finished before I departed. Thinking that it was he himself that had courted his mother's maid, I persuaded him not to do any thing rashly upon the account of his solitary circumstances; that the maid was an unequal match for him, both in respect to substance and years; and that it was very probable he would live to return to his own country, where he might have a far better choice. At these words, smiling, he interrupted me, thanking me for my good-advice; that as he had nothing to beg of me but a small settlement, with a servant or two, or some new necessaries, so he hoped I would not be unmindful of him when I returned to England, but give his letter to his friends; and that when he was redeemed, the plantation, and all its improvements, however valuable, should be returned to me again. But as for the marriage he proposed, that it was not himself, but that it was between my Jack-of-all-trades and the maid Susan.
I was indeed agreeably surprised at the mentioning this match, which seemed very suitable, the one being a very ingenious fellow, and the other an excellent, dexterous, and sensible housewife, fit to be governess of the whole island; so we married them the same day; and as I was her father, and gave her away, so I gave her a handsome portion, appointing her and her husband a convenient large space of ground for their plantation. The sharing out of the land I left to Will Atkins, who really divided if very justly, to every person's satisfaction; they only desired one general writing under my hand for the whole, which I caused to be drawn up, signed, and sealed to them, setting out their bounds, and giving them a right to the whole possession of their respective plantations, with their improvements, to them and their heirs, reserving all the rest of the island as my own property, and a certain rent for every particular plantation, after eleven years. As to their laws and government, I exhorted them to love one another; and as to the Indians who lived in a nook by themselves, I allotted three or four of them plantations, and the rest willingly chose to become servants to the other families, by which means they were employed in useful labour, and fared much better than they did before. Besides the savages thus mixed with the Christians, the work of their conversion might be set on foot by the latter, in the clergyman's absence, to our equal satisfaction. The young priest, however, was a little anxious lest the Christians should not be willing to do their parts in instructing these poor Indians; I therefore told him we should call them all together; that he should speak to the Spaniards who were Papists, and I to the English, who were Protestants, and make them promise that they would never make any distinction in religion, but teach the general true knowledge of God, and his son Jesus Christ, in order to convert the poor savages. And this, indeed, they all promised us accordingly.
When I came to Will Atkins's house, I found his baptized wife, and the young woman newly married to my Jack-of-all-trades, were become great intimates, and discoursing of religion together. O, Sir, says Will Atkins, when God has sinners to reconcile to himself, he never wants an instructor; I knew I was unworthy of so good a work, and therefore this young woman has been sent hither as it were from heaven, who is sufficient to convert a whole nation of savages. The young woman blushed, and was going to rise; but I desired her to sit still, and hoped that God would bless her in so good a work; and then pulling out a Bible (which I brought on purpose in my pocket for him.) Here Atkins, said I, here is an assistant that perhaps you had not before. So confounded was the poor man, that is was some time before he could speak; at last turning to his wife, My dear, he said, did I not tell you that God could hear what we said? Here's the book I prayed for, when you and I kneeled under the bush: God then heard us, and now has sent it. The woman was surprised, and thought really God had sent that individual book from heaven; but I turned to the young woman, and desired her to explain to the young convert, that God may properly be said to answer our petitions, when, in the course of his providence, such particular things came to pass as we petitioned for. This the young woman did effectually; but surely Will Atkins's joy cannot be expressed; no man being more thankful for any thing in the world, than he was for his Bible, nor desired it from a better principle.
After several religious discourses, I desired the young woman to give me an account of the anguish she felt when she was starving to death with hunger; to which she readily consented, and began in the following manner:
"Sir," said she, "all our victuals being gone, after I had fasted one day, my stomach was very sickly, and, at the approach, of night, I was inclined to yawning and sleepy. When I slept upon the couch three hours, I awaked a little refreshed: three hours after, my stomach being more and more sickly, I lay down again, but could not sleep, being very faint and ill. Thus I passed the second day with a strange variety, first hungry, then sick again, with reachings to vomit: that night I dreamed I was at Barbadoes, buying plenty of provisions; and dined heartily. But when I awaked, my spirits were exceedingly sunk, to find myself in the extremity of famine. There was but one glass of wine, which being mixed with sugar, I drank up; but for want of substance to digest upon, the fumes of it got into my head, & made me senseless for some time. The third day I was so ravenous and furious, that I could have eaten a little child if it had come in my way; during which time, I was as mad as any creature in Bedlam. In one of these fits I fell down, and struck my face against the corner of a pallet bed, where my mistress lay; the blood gushed out of my nose, but by my excessive bleeding, both the violence of the fever, and the ravenous part of the hunger abated. After this, I grew sick again, strove to vomit, but could not; then bleeding a second time, I swooned away as dead; when I came to myself, I had a dreadful gnawing pain in my stomach, which went of towards night, with a longing desire for food. I took a draught of water and sugar, but it came up again; then I drank water without sugar, and that staid with me. I laid me down on the bed, praying God would take me away: after I had slumbered, I thought myself a-dying, therefore recommended my soul to God, and wished somebody would throw me into the sea. All this while my departing mistress lay by me: the last bit of bread she had, she gave to her dear child my young master. The morning after, I fell into a violent passion of crying, and after that into hunger. I espied the blood that came from my nose in a basin, which I immediately swallowed up. At night I had the usual variations, as the pain in the stomach, sick, sleepy, and ravenous: and I had no thought but that I should die before morning. In the morning came on terrible gripings in my bowels. At this time I heard my young master's lamentations, by which I understood his mother was dead. Soon after this, the sailors cried, A sail! A sail! hallooing as if they were distracted for joy of that relief, which afterwards we received from your hands."
Surely never was a more distinct account of starving to death than this. But to return to the disposition of things among my people, I did not take any notice to them of the sloop that I had framed, neither would I leave them the two pieces of brass cannon, or the two quarter-deck guns that I had on board, lest, upon any disgust, they should have separated, or turned pirates, and so made the island a den of thieves, instead of a plantation of sober pious people: but leaving them in a flourishing condition, with a promise to send them further relief, from Brazil, as sheep, hogs, and cows (being obliged to kill the latter at sea, having no hay to feed them) I went on board the ship again, the first of May, 1695, after having been twenty days among them: and next morning, giving them a salute of five guns at parting, we set sail for the Brazils. The third day, towards evening, there happening a calm, and the current being very strong, we were drove to the N.N.E. towards the land. Some hours after, we perceived the sea covered as it were with something very black, not easily at first to be discovered: upon which our chief mate ascending the shrouds a little way, and taking a view with a perspective glass, he cries out, An army! An army! You fool, said I, what do you mean? Nay, Sir, said he, don't be angry. I assure you, it is not only an army, but a fleet, too, for I believe there are a thousand canoes paddling along, and making with great haste towards us.
Indeed every one of us were surprised at this relation; and my nephew the captain could not tell what to think of it, but thought we should all be devoured. Nor was I free from concern, when I considered how much we were becalmed, and what a strong current set towards the shore; however, I encouraged him not to be afraid, but bring the ship to an anchor as soon as we were certain that we must engage them. Accordingly we did so, and furled all our sails, as to the savages we feared nothing, but only that they might se the ship on fire; to prevent which, I ordered them to get their boats out, and fasten them, one close by the head, and the other by the stern, well manned, with skeets and buckets to extinguish the flames, should it so happen. The savages soon came up with us, but there were not so many as the mate had said, for instead of a thousand canoes there were only one hundred and twenty; too many indeed for us, several of their canoes containing about sixteen or seventeen men.
As they approached us, they seemed to be in the greatest amazement, not knowing what to make of us. They rowed round the ship, which occasioned us to call to the men in the boats, not to suffer them to come near them. Hereupon they beckoned to the savages to keep back, which they accordingly did; but at their retreat they let fly about fifty arrows among us, and very much wounded one of our men in the long-boat. I called to them not to fire upon any account, but handing them down some deal boards, the carpenters made them a kind of fence to shield them from the arrows. In half an hour after they came so near astern of us, that we had a perfect sight of them; then they rowed a little farther out, till they came directly along-side of us, and then approached so near, that they could hear us speak; this made me order all our men to keep close, and get their guns ready. In the mean time I ordered Friday to go out upon deck, and ask them in his language what they meant. No sooner did he do so, but six of the savages, who were in the foremost canoes, stooping down, showed us their naked backsides, as much as to say in English, Kiss our----: but Friday quickly knew what this meant, by immediately crying out they were going to shoot; unfortunately for him, poor creature, who fell under the cloud of three hundred arrows, no less than seven piercing through his body, killing one of the best servants, and faithfullest of companions in all my solitudes and afflictions.
So enraged was I at the death of poor Friday, that the guns, which before were charged only with powder, to frighten them, I ordered to be loaded with small shot; nor did the gunners fail in their aim, but at this broadside split and overset thirteen or fourteen of their canoes, which killed numbers of them, and set the rest a swimming, the others, frightened out of their wits, little regarding their fellows drowning, scoured away as fast as they could. One poor wretch our people took up, swimming for his life, an hour after. He was very sullen at first, to that he would neither eat nor speak; but I took a way to cure him, by ordering them to throw him into the sea, which they did, and then he came swimming back like a cork, calling in his tongue, as I suppose, to save him. So we took him on board, but it was a long time before we could make him speak or understand English; yet when we had taught him, he told us, 'they were going with their kings to fight a great battle;' and when we asked him, what made them come up to us? he said, to makee de great wonder look; where it is to be noted, that those natives, and those of Africa, always add to e's at the end of English words, as makee, takee, and the like, from which it is very difficult thing to make them break off.