Note 1 — Chapter V · How the People on the Island and Elsewhere Learned Wisdom.

But for a time every body was jubilant. Was it not evident that the value of every man’s possessions, measured in cowry money, had greatly increased—and what could be more natural than that the shrewd adventurers who had been the authors of these golden days should be highly honored, invited to speak before cowry clubs in all parts of the island, and be even talked of for the chief offices, which still continued to be filled by Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday? The continually augmenting prices—measured in cowry money—of all commodities, or, what is the same thing, the continually diminishing purchasing power of the cowries, at last began to attract attention, and this in turn induced distrust; so that the price of a bushel of wheat, which had been at first one hundred cowries, and then two hundred, rose to three, four, and even five hundred cowries. Another remarkable circumstance noticed was, that, as prices increased, the wants of trade for cowry money also increased proportionably, which want the adventurers who had been the means of giving the island its increased volume of money took care to supply by bringing additional quantities of cowries as they were needed. It was also observed that, as distrust increased, there was also a remarkable increase in societary activity; for every body desired to change off his cowry money for something else.1 Persons who were in debt made haste to pay their debts, and every body was ready to lend cowry money to start all sorts of new enterprises. A company was organized, for example, with a capital of ten million cowries, to explore the wreck of the original ship which brought Robinson Crusoe to the island; and although nobody knew exactly where the wreck was, or what was supposed to remain in it, it was advocated as affording great opportunity for labor. Another project, for which a company with fifty million cowries capital was started, was to build a system of canals across the island, although the island had a width of only about ten miles, with a remarkably safe ocean navigation all around it.