The First Boy Scout Book

The First Boy Scout Book The Real Robinson Crusoe

By Frank R. Arnold

Just two years over two hundred years ago, in 1719, appeared a book that has ever since been the delight of every boy and girl, for it was the world's first boy-scout book, and, though many have come out since then, not one of them equals it in keen interest and in its ability to convince a boy that he can do, with his own hands, everything necessary to life and comfort, if he is left alone with nature. The book is Robinson Crusoe and was written by Daniel Defoe, a typical Englishman in his love of independence, and of adventurous travel, and in his appreciation of a good "y arn -" He, himself, had never had the adventures he wrote about though he had been a merchant and knew sailors' experiences. He had also been a political writer and an ardent defender of the non-Conformists in religion. His book is based on the books of two men who had made exciting journeys around the world in sailing ships, and had written accounts of their adventures shortly before Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe. In composing his book, Defoe took their narrations and made them his own, by the masterly way in which he combined and adapted them. It is the literary right of every writer to borrow facts from anywhere, if he can put enough of a personal touch into them, to make them his own. The first book from which Defoe borrowed was Captain Woods Rogers' description of his voyage around the world. In this, the captain tells how he arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez, on February 1, 1709, and was surprised at nightfall to see a light on the shore. This island had been discovered in the 16th century by the Spanish pilot, Juan Fernandez, and had since been uninhabited, though much frequented by English, French and Dutch pirates. So, on seeing a light on this deserted island, Woods Rogers thought it might come from some ship at anchor near the shore. The next day he saw no ship and sent his men to explore the island. Their boat came back with a load of shrimps, as big as lobsters, and also with a strange man who could scarcely talk, though what little he said was in English. Little by little speech came back to him, and this is what he told. His name was Alexander Selkirk. He was a

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Scotchman, born in Fife. He had entered the navy very young. Sailing on the Cing-Ports, he had quarrelled with his captain, named Stradling, who had in consequence put him ashore, five years before the arrival of Woods Rogers, on the island of Juan Fernandez, with his clothes, bed, gun, a pound of powder, some shot, tobacco, an axe, a knife, a kettle, a Bible, some religious books and nautical instruments. Until then, Stradling's ship had been sailing in company with the ship of Guillaume Dampier, one of the most famous sailors of the time, but on leaving the island, the two ships separated, and soon Stradling was made prisoner by the Spanish, while Dampier continued his voyages and later wrote a book about them, which was also a mine of information for Defoe, and of which we will speak later. Left to himself on the island, Selkirk got along like the prince of boy scouts. He built two cabins, one to sleep in and one to cook in, thatched them with reeds and covered the walls with goat skins. Juan Fernandez had left on the island two pairs of goats which had multiplied exceedingly. After his powder was gone, Selkirk caught the goats by hand, as he soon could outrun any of them. His feet became as hard as horn. Fish and huge shrimps were abundant. He had turnips which grew from seeds planted by former visitors to the island. He got fire by rubbing against each other on his knees two pieces of wood from the pepper tree. He made clothes from goat skins, using a nail as needle. To cheer himself in his loneliness, he used to sing the psalms and pray to God. Never had he been so good a Christian, for never had he been so little exposed to temptation. He saw many ships sail by out on the open ocean. Only two landed. These were Spaniards who shot at him and forced him to hide. The moment he recognized that the ship of Woods Rogers was English, he did not hesitate to light the fire which had attracted the captain's attention. Guillaume Dampier was with Woods Rogers as pilot. He recognized Selkirk as the man whom Stradling had abandoned, assured Woods Rogers that Selkirk was an excellent mate, and in this position Selkirk returned to England with the others. Itwas this adventure of Selkirk's that inspired Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe. He added, however, many details which he took from Dampier's Voyage Around the World. Dampier tells how, in 1681, he was cruising with the pirate Watling and was at anchor near the island of Juan Fernandez, when they were attacked by Spaniards and forced to sail away so quickly that they left on shore one of their men, an Indian named Will. Will had with him only his gun, knife and a small horn of powder. When his powder and shot were gone, he sawed up the barrel of his gun into spikes and fishhooks. He got fire with

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flint and a piece of steel, which he had hardened. He built a hut covered with goat skins and a bed two feet high, also covered with skins. He lived on the vegetable products of the island and also on goat flesh and on fish. He killed sea cows, whose skins gave him strong strips of leather. In March, 1684, Dampier came back and anchored before the island. Will recognized that the ship was English and killed three goats, which he stewed with palm cabbages, in order to regale the new arrivals. One of them, an Indian named Robin, recognized him on the spot, ran up to him, threw himself headlong on the ground at his feet, his face to the earth. Will raised him up, kissed him, and in his turn threw himself on the ground before Robin. "We beheld with pleasure," says Dampier, "the surprise, the tenderness, and the formality of an interview, so full of affection on both sides." All this recalls exactly the meeting of Friday and his father. It is easy to pick out the elements that Defoe borrows from Dampier's story. From it, he gets his description of Robinson's island. It corresponds exactly with that of Juan Fernandez; same hills, forests and valleys; same spices, soil fertility, and absence of harmful animals; same abundance of goats, fish, and fruit; same volcanic nature of the island, and the same division into two slopes, one fertile, the other arid. All the same, Defoe did not put Robinson's island in the Pacific. It would have been too far from the shore, too isolated. He had to make possible the Friday episode and all that came out of it. He needed also a less well known island than Juan Fernandez. That is why Defoe preferred the Antilles region and the group of islands around the mouth of the Orinoco, then little known, and inhabited by cannibals. This last detail gave Robinson a chance to show his horror of such unChristian customs and to convert Friday to a more humanitarian love of his neighbor. The whole book of Robinson Crusoe shows that Defoe was familiar with all the details of maritime life, of distant voyages and of unknown lands. He has written, not only what we have called the first and best boy-scout book, but also the national romance of Great Britain. Men of English and American stock love it, whether they are boys or old men. It embodies their ideals. It is the romance of energy, for it shows how a man can subdue nature, convert savages, and be a helpful and resourceful pioneer, no matter in what land he may go and no matter what difficulties he may have to overcome. Logan, Utah