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Group of Huts under the Hill
Justyne, Leitch, Macquoid, Morgan, Pasquier, Thomas, & Weir
Engraver: Linton
1863-64
Wood-engraving
15.2 cm high (including caption) by 14 cm wide, framed.
Cassell's Robinson Crusoe, page 276.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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After a while, seeing things so well ordered, and in so fine a way of thriving upon my island, and considering that they had neither business nor acquaintance in the East Indies, or reason for taking so long a voyage, both of them came to me and desired I would give them leave to remain on the island, and be entered among my family, as they called it. I agreed to this readily; and they had a little plot of ground allotted to them, where they had three tents or houses set up, surrounded with a basket-work, palisadoed like Atkins’s, adjoining to his plantation. Their tents were contrived so that they had each of them a room apart to lodge in, and a middle tent like a great storehouse to lay their goods in, and to eat and to drink in. And now the other two Englishmen removed their habitation to the same place; and so the island was divided into three colonies, and no more—viz. the Spaniards, with old Friday and the first servants, at my habitation under the hill, which was, in a word, the capital city, and where they had so enlarged and extended their works, as well under as on the outside of the hill, that they lived, though perfectly concealed, yet full at large. Never was there such a little city in a wood, and so hid, in any part of the world; for I verify believe that a thousand men might have ranged the island a month, and, if they had not known there was such a thing, and looked on purpose for it, they would not have found it. Indeed the trees stood so thick and so close, and grew so fast woven one into another, that nothing but cutting them down first could discover the place, except the only two narrow entrances where they went in and out could be found, which was not very easy; one of them was close down at the water’s edge, on the side of the creek, and it was afterwards above two hundred yards to the place; and the other was up a ladder at twice, as I have already described it; and they had also a large wood, thickly planted, on the top of the hill, containing above an acre, which grew apace, and concealed the place from all discovery there, with only one narrow place between two trees, not easily to be discovered, to enter on that side. [Chapter VI, "The French Clergyman's Counsel," page 275]
Of the three locations on the island, the hillside is probably the safest in terms of avoiding the periodic visits of cannibals from the South American mainland. This location, however, is inconsistent with the earlier illustration — Spanish Village — of the Spanish capital of the colony because the site is obviously some distance from the seashore. The illustrator's representation of the Spanish settlement is not consistent, either, with Crusoe's remarks about the village being concealed by the trees that he had planted years before. The vast peaks and picturesque view of what amounts to a mountain village provide an idyllic and even sublime view of a lifestyle in harmony with the natural setting.
Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by himself. With upwards of One Hundred Illustrations. London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1863-64.
Last modified 1 April 2018