Make discovery of many excellent roots and fruits--The resources of the
Coral Island gradually unfolded--The banian-tree--Another tree which is
supported by natural planks--Water-fowl found--A very remarkable
discovery, and a very peculiar murder--We luxuriate on the fat of the
land.
Our examination of the little valley proved to be altogether most
satisfactory. We found in it not only similar trees to those we had
already seen in our own valley, but also one or two others of a different
species. We had also the satisfaction of discovering a peculiar
vegetable, which Jack concluded must certainly be that of which he had
read as being very common among the South Sea islanders, and which was
named _taro_. Also we found a large supply of yams, and another root
like a potato in appearance. As these were all quite new to us, we
regarded our lot as a most fortunate one, in being thus cast on an island
which was so prolific and so well stored with all the necessaries of
life. Long afterwards we found out that this island of ours was no
better in these respects than thousands of other islands in those seas.
Indeed, many of them were much richer and more productive; but that did
not render us the less grateful for our present good fortune. We each
put one of these roots in our pocket, intending to use them for our
supper; of which more hereafter. We also saw many beautiful birds here,
and traces of some four-footed animal again. Meanwhile the sun began to
descend, so we returned to the shore, and pushed on round the spouting
rocks into the next valley. This was that valley of which I have spoken
as running across the entire island. It was by far the largest and most
beautiful that we had yet looked upon. Here were trees of every shape
and size and hue which it is possible to conceive of, many of which we
had not seen in the other valleys; for, the stream in this valley being
larger, and the mould much richer than in the Valley of the Wreck, it was
clothed with a more luxuriant growth of trees and plants. Some trees
were dark glossy green, others of a rich and warm hue, contrasting well
with those of a pale light green, which were everywhere abundant. Among
these we recognised the broad dark heads of the bread-fruit, with its
golden fruit; the pure, silvery foliage of the candle-nut, and several
species which bore a strong resemblance to the pine; while here and
there, in groups and in single trees, rose the tall forms of the cocoa-
nut palms, spreading abroad, and waving their graceful plumes high above
all the rest, as if they were a superior race of stately giants keeping
guard over these luxuriant forests. Oh! it was a most enchanting scene,
and I thanked God for having created such delightful spots for the use of
man.
Now, while we were gazing around us in silent admiration, Jack uttered an
exclamation of surprise, and, pointing to an object a little to one side
of us, said,--
"That's a banian-tree."
"And what's a banian-tree?" inquired Peterkin, as we walked towards it.
"A very curious one, as you shall see presently," replied Jack. "It is
called the _aoa_ here, if I recollect rightly, and has a wonderful
peculiarity about it. What an enormous one it is, to be sure."
"_It_!" repeated Peterkin; "why, there are dozens of banians here! What
do you mean by talking bad grammar? Is your philosophy deserting you,
Jack?"
"There is but one tree here of this kind," returned Jack, "as you will
perceive if you will examine it." And, sure enough, we did find that
what we had supposed was a forest of trees was in reality only one. Its
bark was of a light colour, and had a shining appearance, the leaves
being lance-shaped, small, and of a beautiful pea-green. But the
wonderful thing about it was, that the branches, which grew out from the
stem horizontally, sent down long shoots or fibres to the ground, which,
taking root, had themselves become trees, and were covered with bark like
the tree itself. Many of these fibres had descended from the branches at
various distances, and thus supported them on natural pillars, some of
which were so large and strong, that it was not easy at first to
distinguish the offspring from the parent stem. The fibres were of all
sizes and in all states of advancement, from the pillars we have just
mentioned to small cords which hung down and were about to take root, and
thin brown threads still far from the ground, which swayed about with
every motion of wind. In short, it seemed to us that, if there were only
space afforded to it, this single tree would at length cover the whole
island.
Shortly after this we came upon another remarkable tree, which, as its
peculiar formation afterwards proved extremely useful to us, merits
description. It was a splendid chestnut, but its proper name Jack did
not know. However, there were quantities of fine nuts upon it, some of
which we put in our pockets. But its stem was the wonderful part of it.
It rose to about twelve feet without a branch, and was not of great
thickness; on the contrary, it was remarkably slender for the size of the
tree; but, to make up for this, there were four or five wonderful
projections in this stem, which I cannot better describe than by asking
the reader to suppose that five planks of two inches thick and three feet
broad had been placed round the trunk of the tree, with their _edges_
closely fixed to it, from the ground up to the branches, and that these
planks had been covered over with the bark of the tree and incorporated
with it. In short, they were just natural buttresses, without which the
stem could not have supported its heavy and umbrageous top. We found
these chestnuts to be very numerous. They grew chiefly on the banks of
the stream, and were of all sizes.
While we were examining a small tree of this kind, Jack chipped a piece
off a buttress with his axe, and found the wood to be firm and easily
cut. He then struck the axe into it with all his force, and very soon
split it off close to the tree, first, however, having cut it across
transversely above and below. By this means he satisfied himself that we
could now obtain short planks, as it were all ready sawn, of any size and
thickness that we desired; which was a very great discovery indeed,
perhaps the most important we had yet made.
We now wended our way back to the coast, intending to encamp near the
beach, as we found that the mosquitoes were troublesome in the forest. On
our way we could not help admiring the birds which flew and chirped
around us. Among them we observed a pretty kind of paroquet, with a
green body, a blue head, and a red breast; also a few beautiful
turtledoves, and several flocks of wood-pigeons. The hues of many of
these birds were extremely vivid,--bright green, blue, and scarlet, being
the prevailing tints. We made several attempts throughout the day to
bring down one of these, both with the bow and the sling,--not for mere
sport, but to ascertain whether they were good for food. But we
invariably missed, although once or twice we were very near hitting. As
evening drew on, however, a flock of pigeons flew past. I slung a stone
into the midst of them at a venture, and had the good fortune to kill
one. We were startled, soon after, by a loud whistling noise above our
heads; and on looking up, saw a flock of wild ducks making for the coast.
We watched these, and, observing where they alighted, followed them up
until we came upon a most lovely blue lake, not more than two hundred
yards long, imbosomed in verdant trees. Its placid surface, which
reflected every leaf and stem, as if in a mirror, was covered with
various species of wild ducks, feeding among the sedges and broad-leaved
water-plants which floated on it, while numerous birds like water-hens
ran to and fro most busily on its margin. These all with one accord flew
tumultuously away the instant we made our appearance. While walking
along the margin we observed fish in the water, but of what sort we could
not tell.
Now, as we neared the shore, Jack and I said we would go a little out of
our way to see if we could procure one of those ducks; so, directing
Peterkin to go straight to the shore and kindle a fire, we separated,
promising to rejoin him speedily. But we did not find the ducks,
although we made a diligent search for half an hour. We were about to
retrace our steps, when we were arrested by one of the strangest sights
that we had yet beheld.
Just in front of us, at the distance of about ten yards, grew a superb
tree, which certainly was the largest we had yet seen on the island. Its
trunk was at least five feet in diameter, with a smooth gray bark; above
this the spreading branches were clothed with light green leaves, amid
which were clusters of bright yellow fruit, so numerous as to weigh down
the boughs with their great weight. This fruit seemed to be of the plum
species, of an oblong form, and a good deal larger than the magnum bonum
plum. The ground at the foot of this tree was thickly strewn with the
fallen fruit, in the midst of which lay sleeping, in every possible
attitude, at least twenty hogs of all ages and sizes, apparently quite
surfeited with a recent banquet.
Jack and I could scarce restrain our laughter as we gazed at these
coarse, fat, ill-looking animals, while they lay groaning and snoring
heavily amid the remains of their supper.
"Now, Ralph," said Jack, in a low whisper, "put a stone in your sling,--a
good big one,--and let fly at that fat fellow with his back toward you.
I'll try to put an arrow into yon little pig."
"Don't you think we had better put them up first?" I whispered; "it seems
cruel to kill them while asleep."
"If I wanted _sport_, Ralph, I would certainly set them up; but as we
only want _pork_, we'll let them lie. Besides, we're not sure of killing
them; so, fire away."
Thus admonished, I slung my stone with so good aim that it went bang
against the hog's flank as if against the head of a drum; but it had no
other effect than that of causing the animal to start to its feet, with a
frightful yell of surprise, and scamper away. At the same instant Jack's
bow twanged, and the arrow pinned the little pig to the ground by the
ear.
"I've missed, after all," cried Jack, darting forward with uplifted axe,
while the little pig uttered a loud squeal, tore the arrow from the
ground, and ran away with it, along with the whole drove, into the bushes
and disappeared, though we heard them screaming long afterwards in the
distance.
"That's very provoking, now," said Jack, rubbing the point of his nose.
"Very," I replied, stroking my chin.
"Well, we must make haste and rejoin Peterkin," said Jack. "It's getting
late." And, without further remark, we threaded our way quickly through
the woods towards the shore.
When we reached it, we found wood laid out, the fire lighted and
beginning to kindle up, with other signs of preparation for our
encampment, but Peterkin was nowhere to be found. We wondered very much
at this; but Jack suggested that he might have gone to fetch water; so he
gave a shout to let him know that we had arrived, and sat down upon a
rock, while I threw off my jacket and seized the axe, intending to split
up one or two billets of wood. But I had scarce moved from the spot
when, in the distance, we heard a most appalling shriek, which was
followed up by a chorus of yells from the hogs, and a loud "hurrah!"
"I do believe," said I, "that Peterkin has met with the hogs."
"When Greek meets Greek," said Jack, soliloquizing, "then comes the tug
of--"
"Hurrah!" shouted Peterkin in the distance.
We turned hastily towards the direction whence the sound came, and soon
descried Peterkin walking along the beach towards us with a little pig
transfixed on the end of his long spear!
"Well done, my boy!" exclaimed Jack, slapping him on the shoulder when he
came up, "you're the best shot amongst us."
"Look here Jack!" cried Peterkin, as he disengaged the animal from his
spear. "Do you recognise that hole?" said he, pointing to the pig's ear;
"and are you familiar with this arrow, eh?"
"Well, I declare!" said Jack.
"Of course you do," interrupted Peterkin; "but, pray, restrain your
declarations at this time, and let's have supper, for I'm uncommonly
hungry, I can tell you; and it's no joke to charge a whole herd of swine
with their great-grandmother bristling like a giant porcupine at the head
of them!"
We now set about preparing supper; and, truly, a good display of viands
we made, when all was laid out on a flat rock in the light of the blazing
fire. There was, first of all, the little pig; then there was the taro-
root, and the yam, and the potato, and six plums; and, lastly, the wood-
pigeon. To these Peterkin added a bit of sugar-cane, which he had cut
from a little patch of that plant which he had found not long after
separating from us; "and," said he, "the patch was somewhat in a square
form, which convinces me it must have been planted by man."
"Very likely," replied Jack. "From all we have seen, I'm inclined to
think that some of the savages must have dwelt here long ago."
We found no small difficulty in making up our minds how we were to cook
the pig. None of us had ever cut up one before, and we did not know
exactly how to begin; besides, we had nothing but the axe to do it with,
our knife having been forgotten. At last Jack started up and said,--
"Don't let us waste more time talking about it, boys. Hold it up,
Peterkin. There, lay the hind leg on this block of wood, so;" and he cut
it off, with a large portion of the haunch, at a single blow of the axe.
"Now the other,--that's it." And having thus cut off the two hind legs,
he made several deep gashes in them, thrust a sharp-pointed stick through
each, and stuck them up before the blaze to roast. The wood-pigeon was
then split open, quite flat, washed clean in salt water, and treated in a
similar manner. While these were cooking, we scraped a hole in the sand
and ashes under the fire, into which we put our vegetables, and covered
them up.
The taro-root was of an oval shape, about ten inches long and four or
five thick. It was of a mottled-gray colour, and had a thick rind. We
found it somewhat like an Irish potato, and exceedingly good. The yam
was roundish, and had a rough brown skin. It was very sweet and well-
flavoured. The potato, we were surprised to find, was quite sweet and
exceedingly palatable, as also were the plums; and, indeed, the pork and
pigeon too, when we came to taste them. Altogether this was decidedly
the most luxurious supper we had enjoyed for many a day; and Jack said it
was out-of-sight better than we ever got on board ship; and Peterkin said
he feared that if we should remain long on the island he would infallibly
become a glutton or an epicure: whereat Jack remarked that he need not
fear that, for he was _both_ already! And so, having eaten our fill, not
forgetting to finish off with a plum, we laid ourselves comfortably down
to sleep upon a couch of branches under the overhanging ledge of a coral
rock.