An account of the grotto--A room added to it---A view of
that building--The author makes a little cart--Also a wet
dock for his boat--Goes in quest of provision--A description
of divers fruits and plants--He brings home a cart-load of
different sorts--Makes experiments on them--Loads his cart
with others--A great disappointment--Makes good bread--Never
sees the sun--The nature of the light
Having come to a full resolution of fixing my residence at the
grotto, and making that my capital seat, it is proper to give you some
description of it.
This grotto, then, was a full mile from the lake, in the rock which
encompassed the wood. The entrance was scarcely two feet wide, and about
nine feet high, rising from the height of seven feet upward to a point
in the middle. The cavity was about fifteen feet long within, and about
five wide. Being obliged to lie lengthwise in it, full six feet of it
were taken up at the farther end for my lodging only, as nothing could
stand on the side of my bed that would leave me room to come at it. The
remaining nine feet of the cave's length were taken up, first, by my
fireplace, which was the deepest side of the doorway, ranging with my
bed (which I had set close to the rock on one side), and took up near
three feet in length; and my furniture and provisions, of one sort or
other, so filled up the rest, that I had much ado to creep between them
into my bed.
In the chest which I had taken for a seat in the boat, as aforesaid,
upon breaking it open by the water-side, I found a mattress, some
shirts, shoes, stockings, and several other useful things; a small case
of bottles with cordials in them, some instruments of surgery, plasters
and salves; all which, together with a large quantity of fish that I had
salted, I carried to the grotto.
My habitation being thus already overcharged, and as I could not,
however, bear the thoughts of quitting it, or of having any of my
goods exposed to the weather on the outside, I was naturally bent on
contriving how I should increase my accommodations. As I had no prospect
of enlarging the grotto itself, I could conceive no other way of
effecting my desire but by the addition of an outer room. This thought
pleased me very much, so that the next day I set myself to plan out the
building, and trace the foundation of it.
I told you before there was about the space of a cart-way between the
wood and the rock clear; but this breadth, as I was building for
life (so I imagined), not appearing to me spacious enough for my new
apartment, I considered how I should extend its bounds into the wood.
Hereupon I set myself to observe what trees stood at a proper distance
from my grotto, that might serve as they stood, with a little management
of hewing and the like, to compose a noble doorway, posts, and
supporters; and I found, that upon cutting down three of the nearest
trees, I should answer my purpose in this respect; and there were
several others, about twenty feet from the grotto, and running parallel
with the rock, the situation of which was so happily adapted to my
intention, that I could make them become, as I fancied, an out-fence or
wall; so I took my axe and cut down my nearest trees, but as I was
going to strike, a somewhat different scheme presented itself to my
imagination that altered my resolution.
In conformity with this new plan, I fixed the height of my intended
ceiling, and sawed off my nearest trees to that, sloping from the sides
to the middle, to support cross-beams for the roof to rest on, and left
the trunks standing, by way of pillars, both for the use and ornament of
the structure. In short, I worked hard every day upon my building for a
month, in which time I had cut all my timber into their proper lengths
for my outworks and covering, but was at a great stand how to fix my
side-posts, having no spade or mattock, and the ground almost as hard
as flint, for to be sure it had never been stirred since the creation. I
then thought I had the worst part of my job to get over; however, I went
on, and having contrived, in most of my upright side-quarters, to take
the tops of trees, and leave on the lower parts their cleft, where they
began to branch out and divide from the main stem, I set one of them
upright against the rock, then laid one end of my long ceiling-pieces
upon the cleft of it, and laid the other end upon a tree on the same
side, whose top I had also sawed off with a proper cleft I then went and
did the same on the other side; after this I laid on a proper number of
cross-beams, and tied all very firmly together with the bark of young
trees stripped off in long thongs, which answered that purpose very
well. Thus I proceeded, crossing, joining, and fastening all together,
till the whole roof was so strong and firm that there was no stirring
any part of it I then spread it over with small lop wood, on which I
raised a ridge of dried grass and weeds, very thick, and thatched over
the whole with the leaves of a tree very much resembling those of a
palm, but much thicker, and not quite so broad; the entire surface, I
might say, was as smooth as a die, and so ordered, by a gentle declivity
every way, as to carry off the wet.
Having covered in my building, I was next to finish and close the
walls of it; the skeleton of these was composed of sticks, crossing one
another checker-wise and tied together; to fill up the voids, I wove
upon them the longest and most pliable twigs of the underwood I could
find, leaving only a doorway on one side, between two stems of a tree
which, dividing in the trunk at about two feet from the ground, grew
from thence, for the rest of its height, as if the branches were a
couple of trees a little distance from one another, which made a sort of
stile-way to my room. When this was all done, I tempered up some earth
by the lake-side, and mixing it to a due consistence with mud, which I
took from the lake, applied it as a plastering in this manner: I divided
it into pieces, which I rolled up of the size of a foot-ball; these
lumps I stuck close by one another on the lattice, pressing them very
hard with my hands, which forced part of them quite through the small
twigs, and then I smoothed both sides with the back of my saw, to about
the thickness of five or six inches; so that by this means I had a wall
round my new apartment a foot thick. This plaster-work cost me some time
and a great deal of labour, as I had a full mile to go to the lake
for every load of stuff, and could carry but little at once, it was so
heavy; but there was neither water for tempering, nor proper earth to
make it with any nearer. At last, however, I completed my building in
every respect but a door, and for this I was forced to use the lid of my
sea chest; which indeed I would have chosen not to apply that way, but
I had nothing else that would, do; and there was, however, this
conveniency, that it had hinges ready fixed thereon.
I now began to enjoy myself in my new habitation, like the absolute and
sole lord of the country, for I had neither seen man nor beast since my
arrival, save a few animals in the trees like our squirrels, and some
water-rats about the lake; but there were several strange kinds of birds
I had never before seen, both on the lake and in the woods.
That which now troubled me most was how to get my water nearer to me
than the lake, for I had no lesser vessel than the cask, which held
above twenty gallons, and to bring that up was a fatigue intolerable.
My next contrivance, therefore, was this: I told you I had taken my
chest-lid to make a door for my ante-chamber, as I now began to call it;
so I resolved to apply the body of the chest also to a purpose different
from that it originally answered. In order to this, I went to the lake
where the body of the chest lay, and sawed it through within about three
inches of the bottom. Of the two ends, having rounded them as well as I
could, I made two wheels; and with one of the sides I made two more. I
burnt a hole through the middle of each; then preparing two axle-trees,
I fastened them, after putting on the wheels, to the bottom of the chest
with the nails I had drawn out, of it. Having finished this machine, on
which I bestowed no small labour, I was hugely pleased with it, and only
wished I had a beast, if it were but an ass, to draw it; however, that
task I was satisfied to perform myself, since there was no help for it;
so I made a good strong cord out of my fishing-lines, and fixed that
to drag it by. When all was thus in readiness, filling my water-cask,
I bound it thereon, and so brought it to the grotto with such ease,
comparatively, as quite charmed me. Having succeeded so well in the
first essay, I no sooner unloaded but down went I again with my cart,
or truckle rather, to the lake, and brought from thence on it my other
chest, which I had left entire.
I had now nothing remaining near the lake but my boat, and had half a
mind to try to bring that up too; but having so frequent occasion for
her to get my water in, which I used in greater abundance now than I had
done at first, a great part going to supply my domestic uses, as well as
for drinking, I resolved against that, and sought out for a convenient
dock to stow it in as a preservative against wind and weather, which I
soon after effected; for having pitched upon a swampy place, overgrown
with a sort of long flags or reeds, I soon cut a trench from the lake,
with a sort of spade or board that I had chopped and sharpened for that
use.
Thus having stowed my boat and looked over all my goods and sorted them,
and taken a survey of my provisions, I found I must soon be in want
of the last if I did not forthwith procure a supply; for though I had
victualled so well at setting out, and had been very sparing ever since,
yet had it not been for a great quantity of fish I took and salted in my
passage to the gulf, I had been to seek for food much sooner. Hereupon I
thought it highly prudent to look out before I really wanted.
With this resolution I accoutred myself, as in my first walk, with my
instruments and arms; but instead of travelling the lake-side, I went
along the wood, and therein found great plenty of divers kinds of fruits
\ though I could scarce persuade myself to taste or try the effects
of them, being so much unlike our own, or any I had seen elsewhere. I
observed amongst the shrubs abundance of a fruit, or whatever else you
may call it, which grew like a ram's-horn; sharp at the point next the
twig it was fastened to, and circling round and round, one fold upon
another, which gradually increased to the size of my wrist in the
middle, and then as gradually decreased till it terminated in a point
again at the contrary extreme; all which spiral, if it were fairly
extended in length, might be a yard or an ell long. I surveyed this
strange vegetable very attentively; it had a rind, or crust, which I
could not break with my hand, but taking my knife and making an opening
therewith in the shell, there issued out a sort of milky liquor in great
quantity, to at least a pint and half, which having tasted, I found as
sweet as honey, and very pleasant: however, I could not persuade myself
any more than just to taste it. I then found on the large trees several
kinds of fruit, like pears or quinces, but most of them exceeding hard
and rough, and quite disagreeable; so I quitted my hopes of them.
About three miles from my grotto I met with a large space of ground full
of a low plant, growing only with a single woody stalk half a foot
high, and from thence issued a round head, about a foot or ten inches
diameter, but quite flat, about three-quarters of an inch thick, and
just like a cream-cheese standing upon its edge: these grew so close
together, that upon the least wind stirring, their heads rattled against
each other very musically; for though the stalks were so very strong
that they would not easily either bend or break, yet the fanning of the
wind upon the broad heads twisting the stalks, so as to let the heads
strike each other, they made a most agreeable sound.
I stood some time admiring this shrub, and then cutting up one of them,
I found it weighed about two pounds; they had a tough green rind or
covering, very smooth, and the inside full of a stringy pulp, quite
white. In short, I made divers other trials of berries, roots, herbs,
and what else I could find, but received little satisfaction from any
of them for fear of bad qualities. I returned back ruminating on what
things I had seen, resolving to take my cart the next walk, and bring
it home loaded with different kinds of them, in order to make my trials
thereof at leisure: but my cart being too flat and wanting sides, I
considered it would carry very little, and that what it would otherwise
bear, on that account, must tumble and roll off, so I made a fire and
turned smith; for with a great deal to do breaking off the wards of a
large key I had, and making it red-hot, I by degrees fashioned it into a
kind of spindle, and therewith making holes quite round the bottom of my
cart, in them I stuck up sticks about two feet high that I had tapered
at the end to fit them.
Having thus qualified my cart for a load, I proceeded with it to the
wood, and cutting a small quantity of each species of green, berry,
fruit, and flower that I could find, and packing them severally in
parcels, I returned at night heavy-laden, and held a council with myself
what use they could most properly be applied to.
I had amongst my goods, as I said, a copper-kettle which held about a
gallon: this I set over my fire and boiled something by turns of every
sort in it, watching all the while, and with a stick stirring and
raising up one thing and then another, to feel when they were boiled
tender: but of upwards of twenty greens which I thus dressed, only one
proved eatable, all the rest becoming more stringy, tough, and
insipid for the cooking. The one I have excepted was a round, thick,
woolly-leafed plant, which boiled tender and tasted as well as spinach;
I therefore preserved some leaves of this to know it again by; and for
distinction called it by the name of that herb.
I then began upon my fruits of the pear and quince kind, at least eight
different sorts; but I found I could make nothing of them, for they were
most of them as rough and crabbed after stewing as before, so I laid
them all aside. Lastly, I boiled my ram's-horn and cream-cheese, as I
called them, together. Upon tasting the latter of these, it was become
so watery and insipid, I laid it aside as useless. I then cut the other
and tasted the juice, which proved so exceeding pleasant that I took a
large gulp or two of it, and tossed it into the kettle again.
Having now gone through the several kinds of my exotics, I had a mind
to re-examine them after cooling, but could make nothing of any of my
greens but the spinach. I tried several berries and nuts too, but, save
a few sort of nuts, they were all very tasteless. Then I began to review
the fruits, and could find but two sorts that I had any the least hopes
from. I then laid the best by and threw the others away. After this
process, which took me up near a whole day, and clearing my house of
good-for-nothings, I returned to reexamine my cheese, that was grown
cold, and was now so dry and hard I could not get my teeth into it; upon
which I was going to skim it away out of my grotto, saying, "Go, thou
worthless!" (for I always spoke aloud my thoughts to myself)--I say I
was just despatching it when I checked my hands, and as I could make
no impression with my teeth, had a mind to try what my knife would do.
Accordingly I began at the edge of the quarter, for I had boiled but a
quarter of it, but the rind was grown so hard and brittle that my knife
slipping and raking along the cut edge of it, scratched off some powder
as white as possible; I then scraped it backward and forward some time,
till I found it would all scrape away in this powder, except the rind,
upon which I laid it aside again for farther experiment.
During this review my kettle and ram's-horn had been boiling, till
hearing it blubber very loud, and seeing there was but little liquor in
it, I whipped it off the fire, for fear of burning its bottom, but took
no further notice of it till about two hours after; when returning
to the grotto, I went to wash out my kettle, but could scarce get my
ram's-horn from the bottom; and when I did, it brought up with it a
sort of pitchy substance, though not so black, and several gummy threads
hanging to it, drawn out to a great length. I wondered at this, and
thought the shell of the ram's-horn had melted, or some such thing,
till, venturing to put a little of the stuff on my tongue, it proved to
my thinking as good treacle as I had ever tasted.
This new discovery pleased me very much. I scraped all the sweet thing
up, and laid it near my grotto in a large leaf of one of the trees
(about two feet long, and broad in proportion) to prevent its running
about. In getting this curiosity out of my kettle, I found in it a small
piece of my cheese, which I suppose had been broke off in stirring; and
biting it (for it was soft enough) I think it was the most luscious and
delicate morsel I ever put into my lips. This unexpected good fortune
put me on trying the best of my pears again; so setting on my kettle,
with very little water, and putting some of my treacle into it, and two
of the best pears quartered, I found, upon a little boiling, they also
became an excellent dainty.
Having succeeded so well, I was quite ripe for another journey with
my cart; which I accordingly undertook, taking my route over the stone
bridge, to see what the other side of the lake produced. In travelling
through the trees, I met, amongst other things, with abundance of large
gourds, which, climbing the trees, displayed their fruit to the height
of twenty or thirty feet above the ground. I cut a great many of
these, and some very large ones of different hues and forms; which of
themselves making a great load, with some few new sorts of berries and
greens, were the gathering of that day. But I must tell you I was almost
foiled in getting them home; for coming to my stone bridge, it rose so
steep, and was so much ruggeder than the grass or wood ground, that I
was at a set upon the first entrance and terribly afraid that I should
either break my wheels or pull off my axle-trees. Hereupon I was forced
to unload, and carry my cargo over in my arms to the other side of the
bridge; whither having then, with less fear but much caution, drawn my
cart, I loaded again and got safe home.
I was mightily pleased with the acquisitions of this journey; for now,
thought I, I shall have several convenient family utensils; so spent the
next day or two in scooping my gourds and cleaning away the pulp. When I
had done this, finding the rinds to be very weak and yielding, I made
a good fire, and setting them round it at a moderate distance to dry,
I went about something else without doors: but, alas! my hopes were ill
founded; for coming home to turn my gourds and see how dry they were, I
found them all warped and turned into a variety of uncouth shapes. This
put me to a stand; but, however, I recovered some pieces of them for
use, as the bottom parts of most of them, after paring away the sides,
would hold something, though they by no means answered my first purpose.
Well, thought I, what if I have lost my gourds, I have gained
experience. I will dry them next time with the guts in, and having
stiffened their rinds in their proper dimensions, then try to cleanse
them. So next morning (for I was very eager at it) I set out with my
cart for another load; and having handed them over the bridge, got safe
with them to the grotto. These by proper management proved exceedingly
valuable to me, answering, in one way or other, the several uses of
plates, bottles, pans, and divers other vessels.
I now got a large quantity of the vegetable ram's-horn, and filled a
great many of the gourds with the treacle it yielded; I also boiled and
dried a large parcel of my cheeses, and hung them up for use, for I had
now for some time made all my bread of the latter, scraping and bruising
the flour, and mixing it with my treacle and water; and this indeed made
such a sweet and nourishing bread, that I could even have lived wholly
upon it; but I afterwards very much improved it by putting the milky
juice of the ram's-horn, unboiled, to my flour in a small quantity, and
then baking it on the hearth, covered over with embers. This detracted
nothing from the sweetness and mellowness of my bread, but made it much
lighter than the treacle alone would have done.
Finding there was no fear of starving, but so far from it, that from
day to day I found out something new to add to my repast, either in
substantials or by way of dessert, I set me down very well contented
with my condition. I had nothing to do but to lay up store against
sickness and the dark weather, which last I expected would soon be upon
me, as the days were now exceeding short. Indeed, though I had now been
here six months, I had never seen the sun since I first entered the
gulf; and though there was very little rain, and but few clouds, yet the
brightest daylight never exceeded that of half an hour after sunset in
the summer-time in England, and little more than just reddened the
sky. For the first part of my time here, there was but little if any
difference between day and night; but afterwards, what I might call the
night, or lesser degree of light, took up more hours than the greater,
and went on gradually increasing as to time, so that I perceived total
darkness approached, such as I had on board my ship the year before.