It was an inexpressible joy to me, which any one will believe, that I was thus delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable and almost hopeless condition as I was in; and I immediately offered all I had to the captain of the ship, as a return for my deliverance; but he generously told me he would take nothing from me, but that all I had should be delivered safe to me when I came to the Brazils. "For, " says he, "I have saved your life on no other terms than I would be glad to be saved myself: and it may, one time or other, be my lot to be taken up in the same condition. Besides, " said he, "when I carry you to the Brazils, so great a way from your own country, if I should take from you what you have, you will be starved there, and then I only take away that life I have given. No, no, " says he: "Seignior Ingles" (Mr. Englishman), "I will carry you thither in charity, and those things will help to buy your subsistence there and your passage home again. "
我从一个如此痛苦无望的境况里被解救出来,任谁都不难想象,这种喜悦对我来说简直难以言喻。我立刻提出,作为对船长解救我的回报,我要把自己所拥有的一切都送给他。但是船长慷慨地说,他不会从我这里拿任何东西,在我到达巴西之后,会将所有东西都平安地送还到我手里。 “因为,” 他说, “这次我救你,是希望以后自己也能得到别人的救助。说不定什么时候,我也会身陷同样的境遇。更何况,” 他又说道, “我会带你到巴西去,那里离你的祖国很远,如果我拿了你的东西,你就会在那里挨饿。那样,我只会断送了你这条由我救下的命。不,不,” 他说, “英国先生(葡萄牙语),我是出于善意才把你带到巴西的。你的这些东西可以帮助你在那里维持生活,帮你再次回到家中。”
As he was charitable in this proposal, so he was just in the performance to a title; for he ordered the seamen that none should touch anything that I had: then he took everything into his own possession, and gave me back an exact inventory of them, that I might have them, even to my three earthen jars.
他善意地提出了这个建议,也分毫不差地履行了承诺。他命令水手们,不能动任何一件属于我的东西。之后他把所有我的东西都当成自己的财产保管,为了方便我拿回它们,还开了张清单给我,连我的三只泥罐也被列在了单子上。
As to my boat, it was a very good one; and that he saw, and told me he would buy it of me for his ship's use; and asked me what I would have for it? I told him he had been so generous to me in everything that I could not offer to make any price of the boat, but left it entirely to him: upon which he told me he would give me a note of hand to pay me eighty pieces of eight for it at Brazil; and when it came there, if any one offered to give more, he would make it up. He offered me also sixty pieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was lath to take; not that I was unwilling to let the captain have him, but I was very lath to sell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully in procuring my own. However, when I let him know my reason, he owned it to be just, and offered me this medium, that he would give the boy an obligation to set him free in ten years, if he turned Christian: upon this, and Xury saying he was willing to go to him, I let the captain have him.
他看到我的那艘大艇很不错,于是告诉我想从我手里买下,放在他的船上用。他问我要价多少。我告诉他,他在各方面都对我如此慷慨,我不会跟他要价,一切随他的意愿。他听了这话,告诉我他会给我一张手写的票据,等到了巴西,兑换给我八十枚西班牙银币。如果在巴西有人出价更高的话,他会再补偿我。他还提出,愿意出六十枚西班牙银币买下我的佐立。我不愿意收下这笔钱,倒不是我不愿把他交给船长,而是我不愿把这个可怜孩子的自由卖出去。在我自己寻求自由的时候,他忠诚地帮助了我。然而,在我跟船长说了我的理由之后,船长觉得我的话很有道理,于是向我提出了一个折中的办法:他会和这孩子签一份契约,如果他能变成基督徒的话,十年后他就能得到自由。这样一来,加上佐立又说自己愿意跟着船长,我就把他交给了船长。
We had a very good voyage to the Brazils, and I arrived in the Bay de To—dos loss Santos, or All Saints' Bay, in about twenty—two days after. And now I was once more delivered from the most miserable of all conditions of life; and what to do next with myself I was to consider.
我们前往巴西的航行很顺利,大概二十二天以后我就到了群圣湾。现在我又一次逃离了人生最艰苦的境遇,需要为以后作打算了。
The generous treatment the captain gave me I can never enough remember: he would take nothing of me for my passage, gave me twenty ducats for the leopard's skin, and forty for the lion's skin, which I had in my boat, and caused everything I had in the ship to be punctually delivered to me; and what I was willing to sell he bought of me, such as the case of bottles, two of my guns, and a piece of the lump of beeswax—for I had made candles of the rest: in a word, I made about two hundred and twenty pieces of eight of all my cargo; and with this stock I went on shore in the Brazils.
我记不清船长到底给了我多少慷慨的帮助:他没有收取我乘船的费用,还分别花了二十达克特和四十达克特买下我放在大艇上的豹皮和狮子皮。他将我的大艇中的所有东西,一样不差地按照他所说的时间还给了我。他买下我想要卖掉的东西,比如说那只装酒的箱子,我的两支枪,一大块余下的蜜蜡——还有一部分被我做成了蜡烛。总之,在将我的所有物品卖出后,我得到了大约二百二十枚西班牙银币。我带着这笔钱登上了巴西海岸。
I had not been long here before I was recommended to the house of a good honest man like himself, who had an INGENIO, as they call it (that is, a plantation and a sugarhouse). I lived with him some time, and acquainted myself by that means with the manner of planting and making of sugar; and seeing how well the planters lived, and how they got rich suddenly, I resolved, if I could get a license to settle there, I would turn planter among them: resolving in the meantime to find out some way to get my money, which I had left in London, remitted to me. To this purpose, getting a kind of letter of naturalization, I purchased as much land that was uncured as my money would reach, and formed a plan for my plantation and settlement; such a one as might be suitable to the stock which I proposed to myself to receive from England.
我刚到巴西不久,就被船长介绍到一位和他一样善良诚实的人家里。那人有一座甘蔗种植园和一个制糖厂(葡萄牙语)。我在他家住了些时日,熟悉了种植甘蔗和制作砂糖的方法。我看到种植园主的生活是如何地舒适,他们又是如何一夜暴富。我决心,如果能够得到在巴西的居住许可证,我也要成为这些种植园主中的一员。同时,我决心想办法将留在伦敦的钱汇到自己手上。为了得到一张入籍证明,我用所有的钱买下了尽可能多的未经开垦的土地,制定了一个经营种植园和定居的计划。我对能从英国收到的钱的数目进行了估算,这个计划便是在此基础之上制定的。
I had a neighbour, a Portuguese, of Lisbon, but born of English parents, whose name was Wells, and in much such circumstances as I was. I call him my neighbour, because his plantation lay next to mine, and we went on very sociably together. My stock was but low, as well as his; and we rather planted for food than anything else, for about two years. However, we began to increase, and our land began to come into order; so that the third year we planted some tobacco, and made each of us a large piece of ground ready for planting canes in the year to come. But we both wanted help; and now I found, more than before, I had done wrong in parting with my boy Xury.
我有个邻居,是葡萄牙里斯本人,但父母是英国人。他名叫威尔斯,境遇和我很像。我称他为我的邻居,因为他的种植园就在我的园子旁边,我们也常常来往。我的资金很少,他的也不多。我们花了大概两年的时间种植粮食,没有种植其他作物。然而,不久之后我们的事业就做大了,我们的种植园也走上了轨道。于是在第三年的时候,我们种植了一些烟草,还各自买了一大片土地,准备在第二年种植甘蔗。但是我们都需要人手。现在我比任何时候都觉得,和佐立那孩子分开是个错误。
But, alas! For me to do wrong that never did right, was no great wonder. I hail no remedy but to go on: I had got into an employment quite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to the life I delighted in, and for which I forsook my father's house, and broke through all his good advice. Nay, I was coming into the very middle station, or upper degree of low life, which my father advised me to before, and which, if I resolved to go on with, I might as well have stayed at home, and never have fatigued myself in the world as I had done; and I used often to say to myself, I could have done this as well in England, among my friends, as have gone five thousand miles off to do it among strangers and savages, in a wilderness, and at such a distance as never to hear from any part of the world that had the least knowledge of me.
但是,天啊!我总是把事情搞砸,却没有做对过一件事,这已经不是什么奇事了。现在我除了继续下去,没有别的办法。我现在从事的工作和我的本性相差太远,和我喜欢的生活也完全相反。为了喜欢的生活,我离家出走,违背了父亲所有善意的忠告。而且,我现在就快过上那种中间状态的生活了——或者说是平民中的上等生活,也就是以前我父亲一直规劝我过的那种生活。如果我决心继续过这种生活,那么我还不如留在家中,又何必让自己在这世上如此劳顿。那时我常常对自己说,如果在英格兰,留在朋友们中间,我也能过上这种日子的话,我为什么要跑到五千英里之外的荒野,和陌生人及野蛮人在一起。这是个僻远之地,听不到任何世上其他地方的音讯,也没人知道我的情况如何。
In this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret. I had nobody to converse with, but now and then this neighbour; no work to be done, but by the labour of my hands; and I used to say, I lived just like a man cast away upon some desolate island, that had nobody there but himself. But how just has it been—and how should all men reflect, that when they compare their present conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the exchange, and be convinced of their former felicity by their experience—I say, how just has it been, that the truly solitary life I reflected on, in an island of mere desolation, should be my lot, who had so often unjustly compared it with the life which I then led, in which, had I continued, I had in all probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.
这样,每次想到自己所处的境况,我就无比后悔。除了不时和那个邻居聊聊,我找不到人交谈。我没有别的工作需要完成,只有用自己的双手劳作。我曾经说过,自己就像被遗弃在荒岛上的人那样生活着——岛上除了他自己再没有其他人。但是老天是公正的——所有人都应该深思,当他们将自己现在的境况和更加糟糕的相比较时,老天可能会使他们此时和彼时的境况交换,让他们通过亲身经历体会自己从前的幸运。我的意思是,老天是公正的,当我回想起在那个荒岛上真正与世隔绝的生活,我发现那是我命中注定的事情。因为我在巴西时,总是不公正地把自己比作是一个人在荒岛上生活。如果我继续在巴西过日子,那么现在我很可能已经十分成功和富足了。
I was in some degree settled in my measures for carrying on the plantation before my kind friend, the captain of the ship that took me up at sea, went back—for the ship remained there, in providing his lading and preparing for his voyage, nearly three months—when telling him what little stock I had left behind me in London, he gave me this friendly and sincere advice: — "Seignior Ingles, " says he (for so he always called me), "if you will give me letters, and a procuration in form to me, with orders to the person who has your money in London to send your effects to Lisbon, to such persons as I shall direct, and in such goods as are proper for this country, I will bring you the produce of them, God willing, at my return; but, since human affairs are all subject to changes and disasters, I would have you give orders but for one hundred pounds sterling, which, you say, is half your stock, and let the hazard be run for the first; so that, if it come safe, you may order the rest the same way, and, if it miscarry, you may have the other half to have recourse to for your supply. "
在我对经营种植园的计划刚有一些定论之后,我那友善的朋友,也就是在海上救了我的那个船长回来了——船停泊在这里,正装载货物准备出航,这次的出航大约要花三个月的时间——我告诉他我在伦敦留有一点点积蓄,他向我提了一条友善而真诚的建议: “英国先生,” 他说(他总是这样称呼我), “如果你写封信,并给我一张正式的委托书,叫那个在伦敦为你保管钱款的人,把钱汇到里斯本我指定的人手里,然后买一些适用于这里的货品。如果上帝祝福我们,回来的时候我就把这批货品带给你。但是,因为人总是会经历各种变化和灾祸,所以我建议你只拿出一百英镑,如你所言,也就是你积蓄的一半,用这一半的钱冒个险。如果它能安全到达这里,那么你可以用同样的方式,拿出另一半钱。如果失败的话,你可以借助另一半钱维持你的所需。”
This was so wholesome advice, and looked so friendly, that I could not but be convinced it was the best course I could take; so I accordingly prepared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I had left my money and procuration to the Portuguese captain, as he desired.
这个建议非常周到,而且听起来是非常友善。我坚信这是我能采取的最佳方案,所以我如船长所言,给替我保管积蓄的那位寡妇写了封信,还写了份委托书交给这位葡萄牙船长。
I wrote the English captain's widow a full account of all my adventures—my slavery, escape, and how I had met with the Portuguese captain at sea, the humanity of his behaviour, and what condition I was now in, with all other necessary directions for my supply; and when this honest captain came to Lisbon, he found means, by some of the English merchants there, to send over, not the order only, but a full account of my story to a merchant in London, who represented it effectually to her; whereupon she not only delivered the money, but out of her own pocket sent the Portugal captain a very handsome present for his humanity and charity to me.
我给英国船长的寡妇写了一份信,信中详细描述了我的种种冒险——我如何成了奴隶,如何逃跑,又是如何在海上遇到了这位葡萄牙船长,以及他的善行,我现在所处的境况,还把我所需要的所有东西列了个清单。当这位诚实的船长到了里斯本以后,他想办法通过那里的英国商人向伦敦的一位商人送去了信,并向他详细地传达了我的经历。这位商人把这一切详实地告诉了船长的寡妇。她知道情况以后,不仅送来了我的钱,还从自己积蓄里拿出钱,送给那位葡萄牙船长一份厚礼,用来答谢他对我的善举和好心。
The merchant in London, vesting this hundred pounds in English goods, such as the captain had written for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon, and he brought them all safe to me to the Brazils; among which, without my direction (for I was too young in my business to think of them), he had taken care to have all sorts of tools, ironwork, and utensils necessary for my plantation, and which were of great use to me.
伦敦的那位商人,用这一百英镑买了船长列出的一些英国货物,把它们直接送到了在里斯本的船长那里,然后船长把它们安全地运到巴西,交给了我。在这些货物中,有一些是我没列出的(因为我做这行的时间不长,没想到会需要这些东西)。他留心带了各种经营种植园需要的工具、铁器和其他用具,这些对我来说非常有用。
When this cargo arrived I thought my fortune made, for I was surprised with the joy of it; and my stood steward, the captain, had laid out the five pounds, which my friend had sent him for a present for himself, to purchase and bring me over a servant, under bond for six years 'service, and would not accept of any consideration, except a little tobacco, which I would have him accept, being of my own produce.
当这批货品到达时,我觉得自己发财了,简直是大喜过望。我那位厉害的管家,也就是那位船长,用我朋友作为礼物给他的五英镑,替我买了一个仆人。仆人跟我签了六年的契约,这期间不要报酬,只要一点我自己种的烟草。这些烟草还是我坚持让他收下,他才接受的。