Daniel Defoe - The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)

The harvest months, November and December, were now at hand, in which I had the pleasing prospect of a very good crop. But here I met with a new problem; for the goats and hares, having tasted of the outshoot of the blade, kept it to short that it had not strengthen to shoot up into a stalk. To prevent this, I enclosed it with a hedge, and by day shot some of its devourers; and my dog which I had tied to the field-gate, keeping barking all night; so frightened those creatures, that I got entirely rid of them.

But no sooner did I get rid of these, than other enemies appeared, to wit, whole flocks of several sorts of birds, who only waited till my back was turned, to ruin me: so much did this provoke me, that I let fly, and killed three of the malefactors; and afterwards served them as they do notorious thieves in England, hung them up in chains as a terror to others. And, indeed, to good an effect had this that they not only forsook the corn, but all that part of the island, so long as these criminals hung there.

My corn having ripened apace, the latter end of December, which was my second harvest, I reaped it with a scythe, made of one of my broad swords. I had no fatigue in cutting down my first crop it was so slender. The ears I carried home in a basket, rubbing it with my hands, instead of threshing it: and when the harvest was over, found my half peck of seed produced near two bushels of rice, and two bushels and a half of barley. And now I plainly foresaw, that by God's goodness, I should be furnished with bread; but yet I was concerned, because I knew not how to grind or make meal of my corn, nor bread, neither knew how to bake it. I would not however, taste any of the crop, but resolved to preserve it against next season, and, in the mean while, use my best endeavours to provide myself with other food.

But where were my labours to end? The want of a plough to turn up the earth, or shovel to dig it, I conquered by making me a wooden spade. The want of a harrow I supplied myself, with dragging over the corn a great bough of a tree. When it was growing I was forced to fence it; when ripe to mow it, carry it home, thrash it, part it from the chaff, and save it. And, after all, I wanted a mill to grind it, sieve to dress it, yest and salt to make it into bread, and an oven to bake it. This set my brains to work to find some expedient for every one of these necessaries against the next harvest.

And now having more seed, my first care was to prepare me more land. I pitched upon two large flat pieces of ground near my castle, for that purpose, in which sowed my seed, and fenced it with a good hedge. This took me up three months: by which time the wet season coming on, and the rain keeping me within doors, I found several occasions to employ myself; and, while at work, used to divert myself in talking to my parrot, learning him to know and speak his own name Poll the first welcome word I ever heard spoke in the island. I had been a long time in contriving how to make earthen vessels, which I wanted extremely; and when I considered the heat of the climate, I did not doubt but if I could find any such clay, I might botch up a pot, strong enough, when dried in the sun, to bear handling, and to hold any thing that was dry, as corn, meal, and other things.

To be short, the clay I found; but it would occasion the most serious person to smile, to see what aukward ways I took, and what ugly misshapen things I made; how many either fell out or cracked by the violent heat of the sun, and fell in pieces when they were removed; so that I think it was two months time before I could perfect any thing: and even then but two clumsy things in imitation of earthen jars. These, however, I very gently placed in wicker baskets, made on purpose for them, and between the pot and the baskets, stuffed it full of rice and barley straw, and these I presume would hold my dried corn, and perhaps the meal when the corn was bruised. As for the smaller thing, I made them with better success, such as little round pots, flat dishes, pitchers, and pipkins, the fun baking them very hard.

Yet still I wanted one thing absolutely necessary, and that was an earthen pot, not only to hold my liquid, but also to bear the fire, which none of these could do. It once happened that as I was putting out my fire, I found therein a broken piece of one of my vessels burnt as hard as a rock, and red as a tile. This made me think of burning some pots; and having no notion of a kiln, or of glazing them with leaf, I fixed three large pipkins, and two or three pots in a pile one upon another. The fire I piled round the outside, and dry wood on the top, till I saw the pots in the inside red hot, and found out that, they were net crackt at all: and when I perceived them perfectly red, I let one of them stand in the fire about five or six hours, till the clay melted by the extremity of the heat, and would have run to glass, had I suffered it; upon which I slacked my fire by degrees, till the redness abated; and watching them till the morning, I found I had three very good pipkins, and two earthen pots, as well burnt and fit for my turn as I could desire.

No joy could be greater than mine at this discovery. For after this, I may say, I wanted for no fort of earthen ware. I filled one of my pipkins with water to boil me some meat, which it did admirably well, and with a piece of kid I made me some good broth, as well as my circumstances would afford me at that time.

The next concern I had was to get me a stone-morter to beat some corn in, instead of a mill to grind it. Here indeed I was at a great loss, as not being fit for a stone-cutter; and many days I spent to find out a great stone big enough to cut hollow and make fit for a morter, and strong enough to bear the weight of a pestil, and that would break the corn without filling it with sand. But all the stones of the island being of a mouldering nature, rendered my search fruitless; and then I resolved to look out for a great block of hard wood, which having found, I formed it with my ax and hammer, and then, with infinite labour, made a hollow in it, just as the Indians of Brazil make their canoes. When I had finished this, I made a great pestil of iron wood, and then laid them up against my succeeding harvest.

My next business was to make me a sieve, to sift my meal and part it from the bran and husk. Having no fine thin canvas to search the meal through, I could not tell what to do. What linen I had was reduced to rags: I had goat's hair, enough, but neither tools to work it, nor did I know how to spin it: At length I remembered I had some neckcloths of calico or muslin of the sailors, which I had brought out of the ship, and with these I made three small sieves proper enough for the work.

I come now to consider the baking part. The want of an oven I supplied by making some earthen pans very broad but not deep. When I had a mind to bake, I made a great fire upon the hearth, the tiles of which I had made myself; and when the wood was burnt into live coals, I spread them over it, till it became very hot; then sweeping them away, I set down my loaves, and whelming down the earthen pots upon them, drew the ashes and coals all around the outsides of the pots to continue the heat; and in this manner I baked my barley loaves, as well as if I had been a complete pastry-cook, and also made of the rice several cakes and puddings.

It is no wonder that these things took me up the best part of a year, since what intermediate time I had was bestowed in managing my new harvest and husbandry; for in the proper season I reaped my corn, carried it home, and laid it up in the ear in my large baskets, til I had time to rub, instead of thrashing it. And now, indeed, my corn increased so much, that it produced me twenty bushels of barley, and as much rice, that I not only began to use it freely, but was thinking how to enlarge my barns, and resolved to sow as much at a time as would be sufficient for me for a whole year.