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第7章 斩杀凶兽

　　We advanced from the river Arguna by easy and moderate journeys,and were very visibly obliged to the care the Czar has taken tohave cities and towns built in as many places as it is possible toplace them, where his soldiers keep garrison, something like thestationary soldiers placed by the Romans in the remotest countriesof their empire; some of which I had read of were placed inBritain, for the security of commerce, and for the lodging oftravellers. Thus it was here; for wherever we came, though atthese towns and stations the garrisons and governors were Russians,and professed Christians, yet the inhabitants were mere pagans,sacrificing to idols, and worshipping the sun, moon, and stars, orall the host of heaven; and not only so, but were, of all theheathens and pagans that ever I met with, the most barbarous,except only that they did not eat men's flesh.

　　WIFE. - But how you makee me know that God teachee them to writethat book?

　　When he came to them he let them know that I had acquainted himwith their circumstances, and with the present design; that he wasvery willing to perform that part of his function, and marry them,as I had desired; but that before he could do it, he must take theliberty to talk with them. He told them that in the sight of allindifferent men, and in the sense of the laws of society, they hadlived all this while in a state of sin; and that it was true thatnothing but the consenting to marry, or effectually separating themfrom one another, could now put an end to it; but there was adifficulty in it, too, with respect to the laws of Christianmatrimony, which he was not fully satisfied about, that of marryingone that is a professed Christian to a savage, an idolater, and aheathen - one that is not baptized; and yet that he did not seethat there was time left to endeavour to persuade the women to bebaptized, or to profess the name of Christ, whom they had, hedoubted, heard nothing of, and without which they could

　　We stayed by it a quarter of an hour or thereabouts, till thepowder in the eyes and mouth and ears of the idol blew up, and, aswe could perceive, had split altogether; and in a word, till we sawit burned so that it would soon be quite consumed. We then beganto think of going away; but the Scotsman said, "No, we must not go,for these poor deluded wretches will all throw themselves into thefire, and burn themselves with the idol." So we resolved to staytill the forage has burned down too, and then came away and leftthem. After the feat was performed, we appeared in the morningamong our fellow-travellers, exceedingly busy in getting ready forour journey; nor could any man suppose that we had been anywherebut in our beds.

hewould not have me trouble myself to come down to the boat, for theyhad orders not to carry me on board any more. Any one may guesswhat a surprise I was in at so insolent a message; and I asked theman who bade him deliver that message to me? He told me thecoxswain.

came homeat night, the Spaniards provided their suppers for them.

　　They were going on in this little thriving position when the threeunnatural rogues, their own countrymen too, in mere humour, and toinsult them, came and bullied them, and told them the island wastheirs: that the governor, meaning me, had given them thepossession of it, and nobody else had any right to it; and thatthey should build no houses upon their ground unless they would payrent for them. The two men, thinking they were jesting at first,asked them to come in and sit down, and see what fine houses theywere that they had built, and to tell them what rent they demanded;and one of them merrily said if they were the ground-landlords, hehoped if they built tenements upon their land, and madeimprovements, they would, according to the custom of landlords,grant a long lease: and desired they would get a scrivener to drawthe writings. One of the three, cursing and raging, told them theyshould see they were not in jest; and going to a little place at adistance, where the honest men had made a fire to dress t

　　WIFE. - What! He no hear you curse, swear, speak de great damn?

　　I then pressed him to tell me what was the second complaint whichhe had to make, acknowledging that I was very much his debtor forthe first, and thanking him heartily for it. He told me he woulduse the same freedom and plainness in the second, and hoped I wouldtake it as well; and this was, that notwithstanding these Englishsubjects of mine, as he called them, had lived with these womenalmost seven years, had taught them to speak English, and even toread it, and that they were, as he perceived, women of tolerableunderstanding, and capable of instruction, yet they had not, tothis hour, taught them anything of the Christian religion - no, notso much as to know there was a God, or a worship, or in what mannerGod was to be served, or that their own idolatry, and worshippingthey knew not whom, was false and absurd. This he said was anunaccountable neglect, and what God would certainly call them toaccount for, and perhaps at last take the work out of their hands.He spoke this very affectionately and warmly.