"Indians just coming on shore." — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

Indians just coming on shore. (See p. 259), signed by Wal Paget, bottom right. Paget or the compositor has positioned the illustration of six canoes approaching the island opposite "They were surprised with seeing a light" to heighten the text's suspense, although the illustration on page 256 directs the reader back three pages, when the colonists discover that the natives have landed to conduct one of their grisly feasts, and the present illustration directs the reader two pages ahead. The reader wonders whether the Europeans will continue to put aside their differences and come together to defend the colony. Centre of page 257, vignetted: 8.5 cm high by 12.8 cm wide. Running head: "The Three Prisoners" (page 257).

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.]

The Passage Illustrated: The Return of the Natives

I return to the story.They lived two years after this in perfect retirement, and had no more visits from the savages. They had, indeed, an alarm given them one morning, which put them into a great consternation; for some of the Spaniards being out early one morning on the west side or end of the island (which was that end where I never went, for fear of being discovered), they were surprised with seeing about twenty canoes of Indians just coming on shore. They made the best of their way home in hurry enough; and giving the alarm to their comrades, they kept close all that day and the next, going out only at night to make their observation: but they had the good luck to be undiscovered, for wherever the savages went, they did not land that time on the island, but pursued some other design.[Chapter III, "Fight with the Cannibals,"page 259]

Commentary: South American Aboriginals or West Indian Negroes?

Although the visiting cannibals are Carib Indians from the mainland opposite, Paget consistently depicts them as if they were Africans or West Indian Negroes, with features entirely at variance with those of the aboriginals in the 1863-64 Cassell edition. The return ofthe cannibals to Crusoe's island had been a constant source of anxiety to goatskin-clad castaway in Part One, but the Spanish and English colonists have grown complacent, and have not observed Crusoe's precautions, particularly about showing a light afterdark. The return of the cannibals, even for a brief feast, upsets the tranquility of the European colony after two years of near-amity between the former mutineers and theothers. The light seen through the forest earlier, and now the arrival of the canoes serve to heightenthe suspense generated by the text, and will culminate in a furious battle in which theEuropeans, led by "Seignior" Will Atkins, will triumph as a result of their superior technology, despite being massively outnumbered.

Related Material

Reference

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