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My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects; and it was a merry reflection, which I frequently made, how like a king I looked. First of all, the whole country was my own mere property, Baso that I had an undoubted right of dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected. I was absolute lord and lawgiver, they all owed their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion of it, for me.
This passage, from Chapter XXV, shows
us Crusoe’s astonishing ability throughout the novel to claim possession
of things. He sells his fellow slave Xury to the Portuguese captain
even though he has no claim of ownership over the boy. He seizes
the contents of two wrecked ships and takes Friday as his servant
immediately after meeting him. Most remarkably, he views the island
itself as “my own mere property” over which he has “an undoubted
right of dominion.” We may wonder why he has no reason to at least
