"Despatched these poor creatures" — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

Despatched these poor creatures

Wal Paget (1863-1935)

lithograph

13 cm high by 11.7 cm wide, vignetted.

1891

Robinson Crusoe, embedded on page 285.

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.]

The Passage Illustrated: The Europeans Victorious

Our men were tired with the execution, and killed or mortally wounded in the two fights about one hundred and eighty of them; the rest, being frightened out of their wits, scoured through the woods and over the hills, with all the speed that fear and nimble feet could help them to; and as we did not trouble ourselves much to pursue them, they got all together to the seaside, where they landed, and where their canoes lay. But their disaster was not at an end yet; for it blew a terrible storm of wind that evening from the sea, so that it was impossible for them to go off; nay, the storm continuing all night, when the tide came up their canoes were most of them driven by the surge of the sea so high upon the shore that it required infinite toil to get them off; and some of them were even dashed to pieces against the beach.

Our men, though glad of their victory, yet got little rest that night; but having refreshed themselves as well as they could, they resolved to march to that part of the island where the savages were fled, and see what posture they were in. This necessarily led them over the place where the fight had been, and where they found several of the poor creatures not quite dead, and yet past recovering life; a sight disagreeable enough to generous minds, for a truly great man though obliged by the law of battle to destroy his enemy, takes no delight in his misery. However, there was no need to give any orders in this case; for their own savages, who were their servants, despatched these poor creatures with their hatchets. [Chapter V, "A Great Victory," page 281]

Commentary

Only by consulting the text four pages earlier can readers clarify what is transpiring since natives seem to be despatching their own kind. In fact, the victorious Europeans have ordered their slaves to "despatch" those aboriginal warriors who have survived of the battle. Consequently, the assailants are armed with steel-headed hatchets, and the fallen warriors are with long-handled tomahawks. Paget has composed the scene so that the eye focusses on the mercy-killing in the foreground. Although five warriors are already dead, one in the background appears to be pleading for mercy.

Related Material

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 7 April 2018