A JAPANESE MERCHANT.

571

to venture to sail for the river of Kilam and the city of Nankin. But providence seemed now more visibly, as I thought, than ever to concern itself in our affair; and I was encouraged from this very time to think I should one way or other get out of this tangled circumstance and be brought home to my own country again, though I had not the least view of the manner; and when I began sometimes to think of it, could not imagine by what method it was to be done. Providence, I say, began here to clear up our way a little; and the first thing that offered was, that our old Portuguese pilot brought a Japan merchant to us, who began to inquire what goods we had; and in the first place, he bought all our opium, and gave us a very good price for it, paying us in gold by weight; some in small pieces of their own coin, and some in small wedges of about ten or eleven ounces each. While we were dealing with him for our opium, it came into my head that he might perhaps deal with us for the ship too, and I ordered the interpreter to propose it to him. He shrunk up his shoulders at it when it was first proposed to him, but in a few days after he came to me, with one of the missionary priests for his interpreter, and told me he had a proposal to make to me, and that was this: he had bought a great quantity of goods of us, when he had no thoughts (or proposals made to him) of buying the ship, and that, therefore, he had not money enough to pay for the ship; but if I would let the same men who were in the ship navigate her, he would hire the ship to go to Japan, and would send them from thence to the Philippine Islands with another loading, which he would pay the freight of before they went from Japan; and that at their return he would buy the ship. I began to listen to his proposal, and so eager did my head still run upon rambling, that I could not but begin to entertain a notion of going myself with him, and to sail from the Philippine Islands away to the South Seas; and accordingly I asked the Japan merchant if he would not hire us to the Philippine islands and discharge us there. He said, No, he could not do that, for then he could not have the return of his cargo; but he would discharge us in Japan, he said, at the ship's return. Well, still I was for taking him at that proposal, and going myself; but my partner, wiser than myself, persuaded me from it, representing

572

CRUSOE AND HIS PARTNER.

the dangers as well of the seas as of the Japanese, who are a false, cruel, and treacherous people; and then of the Spaniards at the Philippines, more false, more cruel, and more treacherous than they.

But to bring this long turn of our affairs to a conclusion, the first thing we had to do was to consult with the captain of the ship, and with his men, and know if they were willing to go to Japan. And while I was doing this, the young man whom, as I said, my nephew had left with me as my companion for my travels, came to me and told me that he thought that voyage promised very fair, and that there was a great prospect of advantage, and he would be very glad if I undertook it; but that if I would not, and would give him leave, he would go as a merchant, or how I pleased to order him; that if ever he came to England, and I was there and alive, he would render me a faithful account of his success, and it should be as much mine as I pleased.

I was really loath to part with him, but considering the prospect of advantage, which was really considerable, and that he was a young fellow as likely to do well in it as any I knew, I inclined to let him go; but first I told him I would consult my partner, and give him an answer the next day. My partner and I discoursed about it, and my partner made a most generous offer. He told me, “You know it has been an unlucky ship, and we both resolve not to go to sea in it again; if your steward," so he called my man, "will venture the voyage, I'll leave my share of the vessel to him, and let him make his best of it; and if we live to meet in England, and he meets with success abroad, he shall account for one half of the profits of the ship's freight to us, the other shall be his own."

If my partner, who was no way concerned with my young man, made him such an offer, I could do no less than offer him the same; and all the ship's company being willing to go with him, we made over half the ship to him in property, and took a writing from him, obliging him to account for the other; and away he went to Japan. The Japan merchant proved a very punctual, honest man to him, protected him at Japan, and got him a license to come on shore, which the Europeans in general have not lately obtained; paid him his freight very punctually, sent him to the Philippines loaded

REWARDING THE DESERVING.

578

with Japan and China wares, and a supercargo of their own, who, trafficking with the Spaniards, brought back European goods again, and a great quantity of cloves and other spices. And there he was not only paid his freight very well and at a very good price, but being not willing to sell the ship then, the merchant furnished him with goods on his own account; that for some money and some spices of his own, which he brought with him, he went back to the Manillas to the Spaniards, where he sold his cargo very well. Here, having gotten a good acquaintance at Manilla, he got his ship made a free ship; and the Governor of Manilla hired him to go to Acapulco, in America, on the coast of Mexico, and gave him a license to land there, and travel to Mexico, and to pass in any Spanish ship to Europe, with all his men.

He made the voyage to Acapulco very happily, and there he sold his ship; and having there also obtained allowance to travel by land to Portobello, he found means, somehow or other, to get to Jamaica with all his treasure; and about eight years after, came to England exceeding rich: of the which I shall take notice in its place; in the meantime, I return to our particular affairs.

run

Being now to part with the ship and ship's company, it came before us, of course, to consider what recompense we should give to the two men that gave us such timely notice of the design against us in the river of Cambodia. The truth was, that they had done us a considerable service, and deserved well at our hands; though, by the way, they were a couple of rogues too; for as they believed the story of our being pirates, and that we had really ru away with the ship, they came down to us, not only to betray the design that was formed against us, but to go to sea with us as pirates; and one of them confessed afterwards, that nothing else but the hopes of going a-roguing brought him to do it. However, the service they did us was not the less; and therefore, as I had promised to be grateful to them, I first ordered the money to be paid to them which they said was due to them on board their respective ships; that is to say, the Englishman nineteen months' pay, and to the Dutchman seven; and over and above that, I gave them, each of them, a small sum of money in gold, and which contented them very well. Then I made the Englishman gunner

piety, and sincere affection to religion that my other good ecclesiastic had, of whom I have said so much.

But to leave him a little, though he never left us, nor soliciting us to go with him; but we had something else before us at first: for we had all this while our ship and our merchandise to dispose of, and we began to be very doubtful what we should do, for we were now in a place of very little business; and once I was about

ITS INHERENT WEAKNESS.

575

because, having first a true notion of the barbarity of those countries, the rudeness and the ignorance that prevail there, we do not expect to find any such things so far off.

Otherwise, what are their buildings to the palaces and royal buildings of Europe? What is their trade to the universal commerce of England, Holland, France, and Spain? What are their cities to ours, for wealth, strength, gaiety of apparel, rich furniture, and an infinite variety? What are their ports, supplied with a few junks and barks, to our navigation, our merchant fleets, our large and powerful navies? Our city of London has more trade than all their mighty empire. One English, or Dutch, or French man-of-war of eighty guns would fight and destroy all the shipping of China. But the greatness of their wealth, their trade, the power of their government, and strength of their armies, are surprising to us, because, as I have said, considering them as a barbarous nation of pagans, little better than savages, we did not expect such things among them; and this, indeed, is the advantage with which all their greatness and power is represented to us. Otherwise, it is in itself nothing at all; for as I have said of their ships, so may be said of their armies and troops. All the forces of their empire, though they were to bring two millions of men into the field together, would be able to do nothing but ruin the country and starve themselves. If they were to besiege a strong town in Flanders, or to fight a disciplined army, one line of German cuirassiers or of French cavalry would overthrow all the horse of China. A million of their foot could not stand before one embattled body of our infantry, posted so as not to be surrounded, though they were to be not one to twenty in number; nay, I do not boast if I say that 30,000 German or English foot, and 10,000 French horse, would fairly beat all the forces of China. And so of our fortified towns, and of the art of our engineers in assaulting and defending towns. There is not a fortified town in China could hold out one month against the batteries and attacks of an European army; and, at the same time, all the armies in China could never take such a town as Dunkirk, provided it was not starved, no, not in ten years' siege. They have firearms, it is true, but they are awkward, clumsy, and uncertain in going off. 37