"Brought us in fine venison" — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

Brought us in fine venison

Wal Paget (1863-1935)

quarter-page lithograph

8.6 cm high by 8.6 cm wide, vignetted.

1891

Robinson Crusoe, embedded on page 407.

Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.

[You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Passage Illustrated: Wintering in Tobolsk

I had been here eight months, and a dark, dreadful winter I thought it; the cold so intense that I could not so much as look abroad without being wrapped in furs, and a kind of mask of fur before my face, with only a hole for breath, and two for sight: the little daylight we had was for three months not above five hours a day, and six at most; only that the snow lying on the ground continually, and the weather being clear, it was never quite dark. Our horses were kept, or rather starved, underground; and as for our servants, whom we hired here to look after ourselves and horses, we had, every now and then, their fingers and toes to thaw and take care of, lest they should mortify and fall off.

It is true, within doors we were warm, the houses being close, the walls thick, the windows small, and the glass all double. Our food was chiefly the flesh of deer, dried and cured in the season; bread good enough, but baked as biscuits; dried fish of several sorts, and some flesh of mutton, and of buffaloes, which is pretty good meat. All the stores of provisions for the winter are laid up in the summer, and well cured: our drink was water, mixed with aqua vitae instead of brandy; and for a treat, mead instead of wine, which, however, they have very good. The hunters, who venture abroad all weathers, frequently brought us in fine venison, and sometimes bear’s flesh, but we did not much care for the last. We had a good stock of tea, with which we treated our friends, and we lived cheerfully and well, all things considered.[Chapter XVI, "Safe Arrival in England," page 408]

Commentary: Surviving the Long Siberian Winter

The equivalent scene in the 1864 Cassell edition, Crusoe's Arrival to Tobolsk, depicts the Russian city in a positive light, before the onset of winter, whereas Paget's close study of a Siberian hunter underscores the privations attendant upon living in such a harsh climate. Although Crusoe describes the fresh meat brought in by the fur-clad hunters (looking very much like Sami) as "venison," the animal depicted is likely a Eurasian elk rather than a reindeer (if one may judge by the antlers), although both are native to the Kamchatka region.

Related Material

The Cassell's Interpretation of the Crusoe's Arrival at Tobolsk (1864)

Above: The Cassell's team produced a sequence of illustrations for the Tartary section, including a number of landscapes. Among these is Crusoe arrives at Tobolsk, in which Crusoe's party rides down into the Russian city. [Click on image to enlarge it.]

Reference

Defoe, Daniel. The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Of York, Mariner. As Related by Himself. With upwards of One Hundred and Twenty Original Illustrations by Walter Paget. London, Paris, and Melbourne: Cassell, 1891.

Last modified 18 April 2018