Friday. Yes, my nation eat mans too, eat all up.
Master. Have you been here with them?
Friday. Go to other place where they think.
Master. Do they come hither?
Friday. Yes, yes, they come hither; come other else place.
Master. Have you been here with them?
Friday. Yes, I have been here (points to the north-west side of the island, which, it seems, was their side).
By this I understood, that my man Friday had formerly been among the savages who used to come on shore on the farther part of the island, on the said man-eating occasions that he was now brought for; and some time after, when I took the courage to carry him to that side, being the same I formerly mentioned, he presently knew the place, and told me, he was there once, when they ate up twenty men, two women, and one child; he could not tell twenty in English, but he numbered them by laying so many stones in a row, and pointing to me to tell them over.
I have told this passage because it introduces what follows; that after I had had this discourse with him, I asked him how far it was from our island to the shore, and whether the canoes were not often lost—he told me there was no danger, no canoes ever lost; but that after a little way out to sea, there was a current and a wind always one way in the morning, the other in the afternoon.
This I understood to be no more than the sets of the tide, as going out, or coming in; but I afterwards understood it was occasioned by the great draught and reflux of the mighty river Oroonoque, in the mouth of which river, as I thought afterwards, our island lay; and that this land which I perceived to the west and north-west, was the great island Trinidad, on the north point of the mouth of the river. I asked Friday a thousand questions about the country, the inhabitants, the sea, the coast, and what nations were near—he told me all he knew, with the greatest openness imaginable. I asked him the names of the several nations of his sort of people, but could get no other name than Caribs; from whence I easily understood, that these were the Caribbees, which our maps place on that part of America which reaches from the mouth of the river Oroonoque to Guinea, and onwards to St. Martha. He told me, that up a great way beyond the moon—that was, beyond the setting of the moon, which must be west from their country—there dwelt white-bearded men, like me, and pointed to my great whiskers, which I mentioned before; and that they had killed much mans—that was his word—by which I understood he meant the Spaniards, whose cruelties in America had been spread over whole countries, and were remembered by all the nations from father to son.
I enquired if he could tell me how I might come from this island, and get among those white men; he told me, “Yes, yes, I might go into two canoe.” I could not understand what he meant by two canoe; till at last, with great difficulty, I found he meant, that it must be in a large great boat as big as two canoes.
This part of Friday’s discourse began to relish with me very well; and from this time I entertained some hopes, that one time or other I might find an opportunity to make my escape from this place, and that this poor savage might be a means to help me to do it.
During the long time that Friday had now been with me, and that he began to speak to me, and understand me, I was not wanting to lay a foundation of religious knowledge in his mind; particularly I asked him one time, Who made him? The poor creature did not understand me at all, but thought I had asked who was his father; but I took it by another handle, and asked him, Who made the sea, the ground he walked on, and the hills and woods? He told me it was one old Benamuckee, that lived beyond all: he could describe nothing of this great person, but that he was very old—much older, he said, than the sea or the land, than the moon or the stars. I asked him, then, if this old person had made all things, why did not all things worship him? He looked very grave, and, with a perfect look of innocence, said, All things said O! to him. I asked him if the people who die in his country went away any where; He said, Yes, they all went to Benamuckee. Then I asked him, whether those they ate up went thither, too? He said, Yes.