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Burning the Village
Thomas Macquoid
Engravers: Butterworth and Heath
1864
Wood-engraving
17.3 cm high by 14.2 cm wide, framed.
Cassell's Robinson Crusoe, page 321.
[Click on image to enlarge it and mouse over text for links.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
As soon as the fire begun to blaze, the poor frightened creatures began to rush out to save their lives, but met with their fate in the attempt; and especially at the door, where they drove them back, the boatswain himself killing one or two with his poleaxe. The house being large, and many in it, he did not care to go in, but called for a hand grenado, and threw it among them, which at first frightened them, but, when it burst, made such havoc among them that they cried out in a hideous manner. In short, most of the Indians who were in the open part of the house were killed or hurt with the grenado, except two or three more who pressed to the door, which the boatswain and two more kept, with their bayonets on the muzzles of their pieces, and despatched all that came in their way; but there was another apartment in the house, where the prince or king, or whatever he was, and several others were; and these were kept in till the house, which was by this time all in a light flame, fell in upon them, and they were smothered together.
All this while they fired not a gun, because they would not waken the people faster than they could master them; but the fire began to waken them fast enough, and our fellows were glad to keep a little together in bodies; for the fire grew so raging, all the houses being made of light combustible stuff, that they could hardly bear the street between them. Their business was to follow the fire, for the surer execution: as fast as the fire either forced the people out of those houses which were burning, or frightened them out of others, our people were ready at their doors to knock them on the head, still calling and hallooing one to another to remember Tom Jeffry.
While this was doing, I must confess I was very uneasy, and especially when I saw the flames of the town, which, it being night, seemed to be close by me. My nephew, the captain, who was roused by his men seeing such a fire, was very uneasy, not knowing what the matter was, or what danger I was in, especially hearing the guns too, for by this time they began to use their firearms; a thousand thoughts oppressed his mind concerning me and the supercargo, what would become of us; and at last, though he could ill spare any more men, yet not knowing what exigence we might be in, he took another boat, and with thirteen men and himself came ashore to me. [Chapter IX, "Dreadful Occurrences in Madagascar," pp. 322-23]
The story now veers sharply away from the Caribbean and Latin America to East Africa, with Crusoe leading a group of sailors ashore on the island of Madagascar. Trading had progressed smoothly in a market zone both sides had established — until one of the Europeans rapes a native girl. In the ensuing fighting, the sailors lose their leader, Tom Jeffrys, whom the natives have captured and tortured.
The narrative-pictorial sequence in the latter stages of Part Two offers a great many images of exotic foreign locales, images that emphasize the grandeur of the geographical setting and the markedly un-European nature of the architecture.Here, however, the little village is neither grand nor exotic. Although quite often the illustrators minimize the human figures, leaving the reader to place the action within the physical backdrop that the illustrations provide, here Macquoid shows the destruction of the village in human terms. In the foreground, one native has been shot and the other appears to be recovering from the smoke. In the very centre of the village street, armed Europeans carrying a torch to set further huts ablaze, while to the left, three more fire on the hapless natives as they attempt to escape from their burning huts. Flames are rapidly engulfing the dwellings to the right, framed by what appears to be an oak, although the three palm trees in the background emphasize the tropical setting. The ornamental border juxtaposes the fruitfulness of the island and the muskets of the Europeans who, whether from a desire to pillage or to revenge their tortured comrade, threaten utter destruction of the tribe and its village. Whereas Crusoe, trying to halt the unwarranted violence, is prominent in George Cruikshank's 1831 illustration Crusoe attempting to halt the slaughter of villagers on Madagascar, he is entirely absent from the moment at which setting fire to the huts leads to the murder of the entire civilian population.
The artist responsible, Thomas Macquoid, seems to have specialised in illustrations depicting the lush vegetation of Crusoe's island, and of foreign settings such as Madagascar — in particular, Macquoid seems to have enjoyed drawing palm trees and banana leaves:
Complicating the issue of Macquoid's contributions to the 1863-64 project even further, Macquoid may well have designed many of the ornamental frames of other illustrators' plates since "TM" often appears within the borders.
Above: Cruikshank's vignette of the destruction of a native village, Crusoe attempting to halt the slaughter of villagers on Madagascar (1831). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Above: Paget's lithograph places the Europeans, subjects of an apparently unprovoked attack, in the foreground: We gave them a volley (1891). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
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 8 April 2018