A monster wave and its consequences--The boat lost and found--Peterkin's
terrible accident--Supplies of food for a voyage in the boat--We visit
Penguin Island, and are amazed beyond measure--Account of the penguins.
One day, not long after our little boat was finished, we were sitting on
the rocks at Spouting Cliff, and talking of an excursion which we
intended to make to Penguin Island the next day.
"You see," said Peterkin, "it might be all very well for a stupid fellow
like me to remain here and leave the penguins alone, but it would be
quite inconsistent with your characters as philosophers to remain any
longer in ignorance of the habits and customs of these birds; so the
sooner we go the better."
"Very true," said I; "there is nothing I desire so much as to have a
closer inspection of them."
"And I think," said Jack, "that you had better remain at home, Peterkin,
to take care of the cat; for I'm sure the hogs will be at it in your
absence, out of revenge for your killing their great-grandmother so
recklessly."
"Stay at home?" cried Peterkin; "my dear fellow, you would certainly lose
your way, or get upset, if I were not there to take care of you."
"Ah, true," said Jack, gravely, "that did not occur to me; no doubt you
must go. Our boat does require a good deal of ballast; and all that you
say, Peterkin, carries so much weight with it, that we won't need stones
if you go."
Now, while my companions were talking, a notable event occurred, which,
as it is not generally known, I shall be particular in recording here.
While we were talking, as I have said, we noticed a dark line, like a low
cloud or fog-bank, on the seaward horizon. The day was a fine one,
though cloudy, and a gentle breeze was blowing, but the sea was not
rougher, or the breaker on the reef higher, than usual. At first we
thought that this looked like a thunder-cloud; and, as we had had a good
deal of broken weather of late, accompanied by occasional peals of
thunder, we supposed that a storm must be approaching. Gradually,
however, this line seemed to draw nearer, without spreading up over the
sky, as would certainly have been the case if it had been a storm-cloud.
Still nearer it came, and soon we saw that it was moving swiftly towards
the island; but there was no sound till it reached the islands out at
sea. As it passed these islands, we observed, with no little anxiety,
that a cloud of white foam encircled them, and burst in spray into the
air: it was accompanied by a loud roar. This led us to conjecture that
the approaching object was an enormous wave of the sea; but we had no
idea how large it was till it came near to ourselves. When it approached
the outer reef, however, we were awe-struck with its unusual magnitude;
and we sprang to our feet, and clambered hastily up to the highest point
of the precipice, under an indefinable feeling of fear.
I have said before that the reef opposite Spouting Cliff was very near to
the shore, while, just in front of the bower, it was at a considerable
distance out to sea. Owing to this formation, the wave reached the reef
at the latter point before it struck at the foot of Spouting Cliff. The
instant it touched the reef we became aware, for the first time, of its
awful magnitude. It burst completely over the reef at all points, with a
roar that seemed louder to me than thunder; and this roar continued for
some seconds, while the wave rolled gradually along towards the cliff on
which we stood. As its crest reared before us, we felt that we were in
great danger, and turned to flee; but we were too late. With a crash
that seemed to shake the solid rocks the gigantic billow fell, and
instantly the spouting-holes sent up a gush of water-spouts with such
force that they shrieked on issuing from their narrow vents. It seemed
to us as if the earth had been blown up with water. We were stunned and
confused by the shock, and so drenched and blinded with spray, that we
knew not for a few moments whither to flee for shelter. At length we all
three gained an eminence beyond the reach of the water; but what a scene
of devastation met our gaze as we looked along the shore! This enormous
wave not only burst over the reef, but continued its way across the
lagoon, and fell on the sandy beach of the island with such force that
passed completely over it and dashed into the woods, levelling the
smaller trees and bushes in its headlong course!
On seeing this, Jack said he feared our bower must have been swept away,
and that the boat, which was on the beach, must have been utterly
destroyed. Our hearts sank within us as we thought of this, and we
hastened round through the woods towards our home. On reaching it we
found, to our great relief of mind, that the force of the wave had been
expended just before reaching the bower; but the entrance to it was
almost blocked up by the torn-up bushes and tangled heaps of sea-weed.
Having satisfied ourselves as to the bower, we hurried to the spot where
the boat had been left; but no boat was there! The spot on which it had
stood was vacant, and no sign of it could we see on looking around us.
"It may have been washed up into the woods," said Jack, hurrying up the
beach as he spoke. Still, no boat was to be seen, and we were about to
give ourselves over to despair, when Peterkin called to Jack and said,--
"Jack, my friend, you were once so exceedingly sagacious and wise as to
make me acquainted with the fact that cocoa nuts grow upon trees; will
you now be so good as to inform me what sort of fruit that is growing on
the top of yonder bush? for I confess to being ignorant, or, at least,
doubtful on the point."
We looked towards the bush indicated, and there, to our surprise, beheld
our little boat snugly nestled among the leaves! We were very much
overjoyed at this, for we would have suffered any loss rather than the
loss of our boat. We found that the wave had actually borne the boat on
its crest from the beach into the woods, and there launched it into the
heart of this bush; which was extremely fortunate, for had it been tossed
against a rock or a tree, it would have been dashed to pieces, whereas it
had not received the smallest injury. It was no easy matter, however, to
get it out of the bush and down to the sea again. This cost us two days
of hard labour to accomplish.
We had also much ado to clear away the rubbish from before the bower, and
spent nearly a week in constant labour ere we got the neighbourhood to
look as clean and orderly as before; for the uprooted bushes and sea-weed
that lay on the beach formed a more dreadfully confused-looking mass than
one who had not seen the place after the inundation could conceive.
Before leaving the subject I may mention, for the sake of those who
interest themselves in the curious natural phenomena of our world, that
this gigantic wave occurs regularly on some of the islands of the
Pacific, once, and sometimes twice in the year. I heard this stated by
the missionaries during my career in those seas. They could not tell me
whether it visited all of the islands, but I was certainly assured that
it occurred periodically in some of them.
After we had got our home put to rights and cleared of the _debris_ of
the inundation, we again turned our thoughts to paying the penguins a
visit. The boat was therefore overhauled and a few repairs done. Then
we prepared a supply of provisions, for we intended to be absent at least
a night or two, perhaps longer. This took us some time to do, for while
Jack was busy with the boat, Peterkin was sent into the woods to spear a
hog or two, and had to search long, sometimes, ere he found them.
Peterkin was usually sent on this errand, when we wanted a pork chop
(which was not seldom), because he was so active, and could run so
wonderfully fast that he found no difficulty in overtaking the hogs; but,
being dreadfully reckless, he almost invariably tumbled over stumps and
stones in the course of his wild chase, and seldom returned home without
having knocked the skin off his shins. Once, indeed, a more serious
accident happened to him. He had been out all morning alone and did not
return at the usual time to dinner. We wondered at this, for Peterkin
was always very punctual at the dinner hour. As supper-time drew near we
began to be anxious about him, and at length sallied forth to search the
woods. For a long time we sought in vain, but a little before dark we
came upon the tracks of the hogs, which we followed up until we came to
the brow of a rather steep bank or precipice. Looking over this we
beheld Peterkin lying in a state of insensibility at the foot, with his
cheek resting on the snout of a little pig, which was pinned to the earth
by the spear! We were dreadfully alarmed, but hastened to bathe his
forehead with water, and had soon the satisfaction of seeing him revive.
After we had carried him home he related to as how the thing had
happened.
"You must know," said he, "I walked about all the forenoon, till I was as
tired as an old donkey, without seeing a single grunter, not so much as a
track of one; but, as I was determined not to return empty-handed, I
resolved to go without my dinner and--"
"What!" exclaimed Jack, "did you _really_ resolve to do that?"
"Now, Jack, hold your tongue," returned Peterkin; "I say that I resolved
to forego my dinner and to push to the head of the small valley, where I
felt pretty sure of discovering the hogs. I soon found that I was on the
right scent, for I had scarcely walked half a mile in the direction of
the small plum tree we found there the other day, when a squeak fell on
my ear. 'Ho, ho,' said I, 'there you go, my boys;' and I hurried up the
glen. I soon started them, and singling out a fat pig, ran tilt at him.
In a few seconds I was up with him, and stuck my spear right through his
dumpy body. Just as I did so, I saw that we were on the edge of a
precipice, whether high or low I knew not, but I had been running at such
a pace that I could not stop, so the pig and I gave a howl in concert and
went plunging over together. I remembered nothing more after that, till
I came to my senses and found you bathing my temples, and Ralph wringing
his hands over me."
But although Peterkin was often unfortunate, in the way of getting
tumbles, he was successful on the present occasion in hunting, and
returned before evening with three very nice little hogs. I, also, was
successful in my visit to the mud-flats, where I killed several ducks. So
that, when we launched and loaded our boat at sunrise the following
morning, we found our store of provisions to be more than sufficient.
Part had been cooked the night before, and, on taking note of the
different items, we found the account to stand thus:--
10 Bread-fruits, (two baked, eight unbaked.)
20 Yams, (six roasted, the rest raw.)
6 Taro roots.
50 Fine large plums.
6 Cocoa nuts, ripe.
6 Ditto green, (for drinking.)
4 Large ducks and two small ones, raw.
3 Cold roast pigs, with stuffing.
I may here remark that the stuffing had been devised by Peterkin
specially for the occasion. He kept the manner of its compounding a
profound secret, so I cannot tell what it was; but I can say, with much
confidence, that we found it to be atrociously bad, and, after the first
tasting, scraped it carefully out and threw it overboard. We calculated
that this supply would last us for several days, but we afterwards found
that it was much more than we required, especially in regard to the cocoa
nuts, of which we found large supplies wherever we went. However, as
Peterkin remarked, it was better to have too much than too little, as we
knew not to what straits we might be put during our voyage.
It was a very calm sunny morning when we launched forth and rowed over
the lagoon towards the outlet in the reef, and passed between the two
green islets that guard the entrance. We experienced some difficulty and
no little danger in passing the surf of the breaker, and shipped a good
deal of water in the attempt; but, once past the billow, we found
ourselves floating placidly on the long oily swell that rose and fell
slowly as it rolled over the wide ocean.
Penguin Island lay on the other side of our own island, at about a mile
beyond the outer reef, and we calculated that it must be at least twenty
miles distant by the way we should have to go. We might, indeed, have
shortened the way by coasting round our island inside of the lagoon, and
going out at the passage in the reef nearly opposite to Penguin Island,
but we preferred to go by the open sea; first, because it was more
adventurous; and, secondly, because we should have the pleasure of again
feeling the motion of the deep, which we all loved very much, not being
liable to sea sickness.
"I wish we had a breeze," said Jack.
"So do I," cried Peterkin, resting on his oar and wiping his heated brow;
"pulling is hard work. Oh dear, if we could only catch a hundred or two
of these gulls, tie them to the boat with long strings, and make them fly
as we want them, how capital it would be!"
"Or bore a hole through a shark's tail, and reeve a rope through it, eh?"
remarked Jack. "But, I say, it seems that my wish is going to be
granted, for here comes a breeze. Ship your oar, Peterkin. Up with the
mast, Ralph; I'll see to the sail. Mind your helm; look out for
squalls!"
This last speech was caused by the sudden appearance of a dark blue line
on the horizon, which, in an incredibly short space of time, swept down
on us, lashing up the sea in white foam as it went. We presented the
stern of the boat to its first violence, and, in a few seconds, it
moderated into a steady breeze, to which we spread our sail and flew
merrily over the waves. Although the breeze died away soon afterwards,
it had been so stiff while it lasted, that we were carried over the
greater part of our way before it fell calm again; so that, when the
flapping of the sail against the mast told us that it was time to resume
the oars, we were not much more than a mile from Penguin Island.
"There go the soldiers!" cried Peterkin as we came in sight of it; "how
spruce their white trousers look, this morning! I wonder if they will
receive us kindly. D'you think they are hospitable, Jack?"
"Don't talk, Peterkin, but pull away, and you shall see shortly."
As we drew near to the island we were much amused by the manoeuvres and
appearance of these strange birds. They seemed to be of different
species, for some had crests on their heads while others had none, and
while some were about the size of a goose others appeared nearly as large
as a swan. We also saw a huge albatross soaring above the heads of the
penguins. It was followed and surrounded by numerous flocks of
sea-gulls. Having approached to within a few yards of the island, which
was a low rock, with no other vegetation on it than a few bushes, we lay
on our oars and gazed at the birds with surprise and pleasure, they
returning our gaze with interest. We now saw that their soldier-like
appearance was owing to the stiff, erect manner in which they sat on
their short legs,--"Bolt-up-right," as Peterkin expressed it. They had
black heads, long sharp beaks, white breasts, and bluish backs. Their
wings were so short that they looked more like the fins of a fish, and,
indeed, we soon saw that they used them for the purpose of swimming under
water. There were no quills on these wings, but a sort of scaly
feathers; which also thickly covered their bodies. Their legs were
short, and placed so far back that the birds, while on land, were obliged
to stand quite upright in order to keep their balance; but in the water
they floated like other water-fowl. At first we were so stunned with the
clamour which they and other sea-birds kept up around us, that we knew
not which way to look,--for they covered the rocks in thousands; but, as
we continued to gaze, we observed several quadrupeds (as we thought)
walking in the midst of the penguins.
"Pull in a bit," cried Peterkin, "and let's see what these are. They
must be fond of noisy company, to consort with such creatures."
To our surprise we found that these were no other than penguins which had
gone down on all fours, and were crawling among the bushes on their feet
and wings, just like quadrupeds. Suddenly one big old bird, that had
been sitting on a point very near to us, gazing in mute astonishment,
became alarmed, and, scuttling down the rocks, plumped or fell, rather
than ran, into the sea. It dived in a moment, and, a few seconds
afterwards, came out of the water far a-head, with such a spring, and
such a dive back into the sea again, that we could scarcely believe it
was not a fish that had leaped in sport.
"That beats everything," said Peterkin, rubbing his nose, and screwing up
his face with an expression of exasperated amazement. "I've heard of a
thing being neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, but I never did expect to live
to see a brute that was all three together,--at once--in one! But look
there!" he continued, pointing with a look of resignation to the shore,
"look there! there's no end to it. What _has_ that brute got under its
tail?"
We turned to look in the direction pointed out, and there saw a penguin
walking slowly and very sedately along the shore with an egg under its
tail. There were several others, we observed, burdened in the same way;
and we found afterwards that these were a species of penguins that always
carried their eggs so. Indeed, they had a most convenient cavity for the
purpose, just between the tail and the legs. We were very much impressed
with the regularity and order of this colony. The island seemed to be
apportioned out into squares, of which each penguin possessed one, and
sat in stiff solemnity in the middle of it, or took a slow march up and
down the spaces between. Some were hatching their eggs, but others were
feeding their young ones in a manner that caused us to laugh not a
little. The mother stood on a mound or raised rock, while the young one
stood patiently below her on the ground. Suddenly the mother raised her
head and uttered a series of the most discordant cackling sounds.
"She's going to choke," cried Peterkin.
But this was not the case, although, I confess, she looked like it. In a
few seconds she put down her head and opened her mouth, into which the
young one thrust its beak and seemed to suck something from her throat.
Then the cackling was renewed, the sucking continued, and so the
operation of feeding was carried on till the young one was satisfied; but
what she fed her little one with, we could not tell.
"Now, just look yonder!" said Peterkin, in an excited tone; "if that
isn't the most abominable piece of maternal deception I ever saw. That
rascally old lady penguin has just pitched her young one into the sea,
and there's another about to follow her example."
This indeed seemed to be the cue, for, on the top of a steep rock close
to the edge of the sea, we observed an old penguin endeavouring to entice
her young one into the water; but the young one seemed very unwilling to
go, and, notwithstanding the enticements of its mother, moved very slowly
towards her. At last she went gently behind the young bird and pushed it
a little towards the water, but with great tenderness, as much as to say,
'Don't be afraid, darling! I won't hurt you, my pet!' but no sooner did
she get it to the edge of the rock, where it stood looking pensively down
at the sea, than she gave it a sudden and violent push, sending it
headlong down the slope into the water, where its mother left it to
scramble ashore as it best could. We observed many of them employed in
doing this, and we came to the conclusion that this is the way in which
old penguins teach their children to swim.
Scarcely had we finished making our remarks on this, when we were
startled by about a dozen of the old birds hopping in the most clumsy and
ludicrous manner towards the sea. The beach, here, was a sloping rock,
and when they came to it, some of them succeeded in hopping down in
safety, but others lost their balance and rolled and scrambled down the
slope in the most helpless manner. The instant they reached the water,
however, they seemed to be in their proper element. They dived and
bounded out of it and into it again with the utmost agility; and so,
diving and bounding and spluttering, for they could not fly, they went
rapidly out to sea.
On seeing this, Peterkin turned with a grave face to us and said, "It's
my opinion that these birds are all stark, staring mad, and that this is
an enchanted island. I therefore propose that we should either put about
ship and fly in terror from the spot, or land valorously on the island,
and sell our lives as dearly as we can."
"I vote for landing, so pull in, lads," said Jack, giving a stroke with
his oar that made the boat spin. In a few seconds we ran the boat into a
little creek where we made her fast to a projecting piece of coral, and,
running up the beach, entered the ranks of the penguins armed with our
cudgels and our spear. We were greatly surprised to find that, instead
of attacking us or showing signs of fear at our approach, these curious
birds did not move from their places until we laid hands on them, and
merely turned their eyes on us in solemn, stupid wonder as we passed.
There was one old penguin, however, that began to walk slowly toward the
sea, and Peterkin took it into his head that he would try to interrupt
its progress, so he ran between it and the sea and brandished his cudgel
in its face. But this proved to be a resolute old bird. It would not
retreat; nay, more, it would not cease to advance, but battled with
Peterkin bravely and drove him before it until it reached the sea. Had
Peterkin used his club he could easily have felled it, no doubt; but, as
he had no wish to do so cruel an act merely out of sport, he let the bird
escape.
We spent fully three hours on this island in watching the habits of these
curious birds, and, when we finally left them, we all three concluded,
after much consultation, that they were the most wonderful creatures we
had ever seen; and further, we thought it probable that they were the
most wonderful creatures in the world!