"Spanish Village" for Daniel Defoe's "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe" (1863-64)

Spanish village (page 249) — the volume's sixty-fifth composite wood-block engraving for Defoe's The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. Related by himself (London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863-64). Part II, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Chapter III, "The Fight with the Cannibals." Full-page, framed: 14.2 cm high x 22 cm wide.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: The Mutineers Exiled to a Remote Part of the Island

The humane governor, musing upon the sentence, considered a little upon it; and turning to the two honest Englishmen, said, “Hold; you must reflect that it will be long ere they can raise corn and cattle of their own, and they must not starve; we must therefore allow them provisions.” So he caused to be added, that they should have a proportion of corn given them to last them eight months, and for seed to sow, by which time they might be supposed to raise some of their own; that they should have six milch-goats, four he-goats, and six kids given them, as well for present subsistence as for a store; and that they should have tools given them for their work in the fields, but they should have none of these tools or provisions unless they would swear solemnly that they would not hurt or injure any of the Spaniards with them, or of their fellow-Englishmen.

Thus they dismissed them the society, and turned them out to shift for themselves. They went away sullen and refractory, as neither content to go away nor to stay: but, as there was no remedy, they went, pretending to go and choose a place where they would settle themselves; and some provisions were given them, but no weapons. About four or five days after, they came again for some victuals, and gave the governor an account where they had pitched their tents, and marked themselves out a habitation and plantation; and it was a very convenient place indeed, on the remotest part of the island, N. E., much about the place where I providentially landed in my first voyage, when I was driven out to sea in my foolish attempt to sail round the island. [Chapter III, "The Fight with the Cannibals," page 244]

Commentary

The present illustration subtly complements the previous one, The Pirates leaving the Island (page 245). This panorama of the wickerwork huts and tranquil beach contradicts the lonely, rocky shore upon which the ex-mutineers are loading their vessel in preparation for their going into exile on the far side of the island. The illustrator, Matt Somerville Morgan, had either not seen the previous illustration when he was composing this, or he had deliberately depicted the European enclave on the tropical shore as placid and safe — now that the rowdy Englishmen are departing. The elegant frame of corals, driftwood, and conch shells underscore the harmonious nature of the scene, with a woman dressed in a European fashion (even though she must be an aboriginal) in the right foreground.

However, if one carefully consults the text, he or she will discover that the image of a tranquil Spanish village on the seashore is something of a cheat, for the narrator makes it clear that the Europeans have continued to dwell in a retired spot where the visiting cannibals are not likely to discover them:

But this was not all; for they did the same by all the ground to the right hand and to the left, and round even to the side of the hill, leaving no way, not so much as for themselves, to come out but by the ladder placed up to the side of the hill, and then lifted up, and placed again from the first stage up to the top: so that when the ladder was taken down, nothing but what had wings or witchcraft to assist it could come at them. This was excellently well contrived: nor was it less than what they afterwards found occasion for, which served to convince me, that as human prudence has the authority of Providence to justify it, so it has doubtless the direction of Providence to set it to work; and if we listened carefully to the voice of it, I am persuaded we might prevent many of the disasters which our lives are now, by our own negligence, subjected to.

They lived two years after this in perfect retirement, and had no more visits from the savages. [Chapter III, "Fight with the Cannibals," page 242]

This description is consistent with the Spanish settlers' having built "two handsome huts . . . close under the side of a hill" (p. 244), and not near the beach at all, a picturesque but imprudent location.

Related Material

Bibliography

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner. Related by himself. With upwards of One Hundred Illustrations. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863-64.

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Exciting Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner, as Related by Himself. With 120 original illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris,and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.

Last modified 29 March 2018