"An infinite number of fowls" — illustration for Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1891)

An infinite number of fowls

Wal Paget (1863-1935)

full-page lithograph

11 cm high by 7.8 cm wide, vignetted.

1891

Robinson Crusoe, embedded on page 80.

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: The abundance of the Island

I never travelled in this journey above two miles outright in a day, or thereabouts; but I took so many turns and re-turns to see what discoveries I could make, that I came weary enough to the place where I resolved to sit down all night; and then I either reposed myself in a tree, or surrounded myself with a row of stakes set upright in the ground, either from one tree to another, or so as no wild creature could come at me without waking me.As soon as I came to the sea-shore, I was surprised to see that I had taken up my lot on the worst side of the island, for here, indeed, the shore was covered with innumerable turtles, whereas on the other side I had found but three in a year and a half. Here was also an infinite number of fowls of many kinds, some which I had seen, and some which I had not seen before, and many of them very good meat, but such as I knew not the names of, except those called penguins.

I could have shot as many as I pleased, but was very sparing of my powder and shot, and therefore had more mind to kill a she-goat if I could, which I could better feed on; and though there were many goats here, more than on my side the island, yet it was with much more difficulty that I could come near them, the country being flat and even, and they saw me much sooner than when I was on the hills. [Chapter VIII, "Surveys His Position," page 79]

Commentary

What may have particularly attracted Paget to illustrating a fresh edition of Robinson Crusoe was the sheer variety of geographical features and animal species on the tropical island off the coast of South America. This is hardly the inhospitable Canadian Arctic that destroyed the Franklin Expedition in 1845, for natural abundance surrounds Crusoe at every turn:

But I had no need to be venturous, for I had no want of food, and of that which was very good too, especially these three sorts, viz. goats, pigeons, and turtle, or tortoise, which added to my grapes, Leadenhall market could not have furnished a table better than I, in proportion to the company; and though my case was deplorable enough, yet I had great cause for thankfulness that I was not driven to any extremities for food, but had rather plenty, even to dainties. [Running Head, "A Table in the Wilderness," page 79]

Paget has made the seabird rookery a mere thumbnail vignette because, picturesque though it may be, it is not an important setting in Crusoe's story, but merely one of the sights of the island that momentarily impresses Crusoe the surveyor.

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 28 April 2018