A RETROSPECT
It will now be proper to give the reader a summary of the first ten
years spent in New Switzerland by the survivors of the wreck of the
_Landlord_.
On the 7th of October, in the year 1803, a family was cast upon an
unknown land situated in the east of the Indian Ocean.
The head of this family, of Swiss origin, was named Jean Zermatt, his
wife was named Betsy. The former was thirty-five years of age, the
latter thirty-three. They had four children, all sons, in the following
order of birth: Fritz, then fifteen; Ernest, twelve; Jack, ten; and
Frank, six.
It was on the seventh day of an appalling storm that the _Landlord_,
on which they had embarked, was driven out of her course in the midst
of the ocean. Blown southwards, far beyond Batavia, her port of
destination, she struck a mass of rock about four miles from the coast.
M. Zermatt was an intelligent and well-informed man, his wife a brave
and devoted woman. Their children presented varieties of character.
Fritz was bold and active, Ernest the most serious and studious of
the four, though inclined to be selfish, Jack thoughtless and full of
fun, Frank still almost a baby. They were a most united family, quite
capable of doing well even in the terrible conditions into which evil
fortune had just plunged them. Moreover, all of them were animated by
deep religious feeling.
M. Zermatt had realised his few effects and left the land of his birth
to settle in one of those Dutch over-sea possessions which at that time
were at the height of their prosperity, and offered so much promise
to active and hardworking men. Now, after a fair voyage across the
Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, the ship which carried him and his
family had been cast away. He and his wife and children, alone of all
the crew and passengers of the _Landlord_, had survived the wreck. But
it was necessary to abandon without the least delay the ship, entangled
among the rocks of the reef. Her hull rent, her masts broken off, her
keel snapped in half, and exposed to all the waves of the open sea, the
next gale would complete her destruction and scatter her fragments far
and wide.
Fastening half-a-dozen tubs together by means of ropes and planks, M.
Zermatt and his sons succeeded in making a sort of raft, on which all
the family took their seats before the day drew to an end. The sea was
calm, scarcely heaving with a slow swell, and the flowing tide ran
towards the coast. After leaving a long promontory on the starboard
side, the floating raft came ashore in a little bay where a river
emptied itself.
As soon as the various articles brought from the ship had been set
ashore a tent was pitched in this spot which afterwards received the
name of Tent Home. The encampment was gradually completed with the
ship's cargo which M. Zermatt and his sons went on the following days
to take from the hold of the _Landlord_, utensils, furniture, bedding,
tinned meats, grain of various kinds, plants, sporting guns, casks of
wine and liqueurs, tins of biscuits, cheeses and hams, clothes, linen,
everything, in short, which was carried in this four hundred ton vessel
freighted to supply the requirements of a new colony.
They found that game, both furred and feathered, swarmed upon
this coast. Whole flocks and herds were seen, of agoutis, a kind
of hare with head like that of a pig, ondatras, a species of musk
rat, buffaloes, ducks, flamingoes, bustards, grouse, peccaries, and
antelopes. In the waters of the bay which spread beyond the creek was
abundance of salmon, sturgeon, herrings, and a score of other species
of fish, as well as mussels, oysters, lobsters, crayfish, and crabs. In
the surrounding country, where cassava and sweet potatoes flourished,
cotton trees and cocoa trees were growing together with mangroves,
palms and other tropical species.
Thus existence seemed to be assured to these shipwrecked folk, upon
this land of whose bearings they knew nothing at all.
It had been found possible to land a number of domestic animals--Turk,
an English dog; Floss, a Danish bitch; two goats, six sheep, a sow
in farrow, an ass, a cow, and a perfect poultry yard of cocks, hens,
turkeys, geese, ducks, and pigeons, which soon acclimatised themselves
to the surface of the ponds and marshes and the grass lands adjoining
the coast.
The final trips to the ship had emptied it of everything valuable or
useful that it contained. Several four-pounder cannons were conveyed
to the shore for the defence of the encampment, and also a pinnace, a
light vessel which, as all its pieces were numbered, could easily be
put together, and to which the name _Elizabeth_ was given in compliment
to Betsy. M. Zermatt was then master of a ship, brigantine-rigged,
fifteen tons burthen, with square stern and after deck. Thus he had
every facility for exploring the seas either to the east or the west,
and for rounding the neighbouring promontories, one of which broke
away towards the north in a sharp point while the other stretched out
opposite Tent Home.
The mouth of the river was framed within lofty rocks which rendered it
difficult of access, and self-defence there would be easy, at any rate
against wild beasts.
One question which arose was as to whether the Zermatts had reached the
shore of an island or of a continent washed by the waters of the Indian
Ocean. The only information they had on this point was derived from the
bearings taken by the commander of the _Landlord_ before the shipwreck.
The ship was approaching Batavia when she was struck by a storm
which lasted for six days and threw her far out of her course, to
the south-east. The day before the captain had fixed his position
as being latitude 13° 40′ south, and longitude 114° 5′ east of the
island of Ferro in the Canary Group. As the wind had blown constantly
from the north, it was a fair assumption that the longitude had not
varied appreciably. By keeping the meridian at about the hundred
and fourteenth degree, M. Zermatt concluded from an observation of
latitude, taken with a sextant, that the _Landlord_ must have drifted
approximately six degrees southward, and consequently, that the coast
of Tent Home could be located between the nineteenth and the twentieth
parallels.
It followed that this land must be, in round figures, between six and
seven hundred miles west of Australia. And so, although he did possess
the pinnace, M. Zermatt would never have dared, however ardent his
desire to return to his native country, to trust his family to so
fragile a vessel and expose them to the dangers of the violent cyclones
and tornadoes common in these seas.
In the predicament in which they now found themselves, the shipwrecked
family could only look to Providence for help. At this date, sailing
vessels making for the Dutch colonies hardly touched this part of
the Indian Ocean. The western coast of Australia was almost unknown,
offered the greatest difficulties in the way of landing, and had no
geographical or commercial importance.
At the outset the family were content to live under canvas at Tent
Home, near the right bank of the water-course which they had named
Jackal River, in commemoration of an attack made upon them by those
carnivorous animals. But the heat, untempered by the sea-breeze,
became stifling between these lofty rocks. So M. Zermatt resolved to
settle upon the portion of the coast which ran south and north, a
little beyond Deliverance Bay, as the place was significantly named.
In the course of an excursion to the end of a magnificent wood not
far from the sea, M. Zermatt stopped before a huge mangrove, of the
mountain variety, the lower branches of which spread out quite sixty
feet above the ground. Upon these branches the father and his sons
succeeded in building a platform made of planks taken from the ship.
Thus they constructed an aerial dwelling, covered in with a solid roof
and divided into several chambers. It was called Falconhurst, "The
Falcon's Nest." What was more, like certain willows which only subsist
through their bark, this mangrove had lost its inner core, which
had been taken possession of by numerous swarms of bees, and it was
possible to put in a winding staircase, to replace the rope ladder by
which access to the Falcon's Nest had been gained originally.
Meanwhile exploring trips were extended to a distance of seven or eight
miles as far as False Hope Point, as the cape was called after M.
Zermatt had given up all hope of finding any passengers or members of
the crew of the _Landlord_.
At the entrance to Deliverance Bay, opposite Falconhurst, lay an island
about a mile and a quarter in circumference, and this was christened
Shark's Island because one of those enormous creatures got stranded
there the day the tub boat was taking the domestic animals to Tent Home.
Just as a shark was responsible for the naming of this island, so
a whale, a few days later, gave its name to another island about
three-quarters of a mile in circumference, situated in front of
Flamingo Bay, to the north of Falconhurst. Communication between this
aerial dwelling-place and Tent Home, which was about two and a half
miles distant, was facilitated by the construction of "Family Bridge,"
subsequently replaced by a swing bridge, thrown across Jackal River.
After passing the first few weeks under canvas, as the fine weather
had not come to an end before Falconhurst was completed, M. Zermatt
removed there with all the domestic animals. The enormous roots of the
mangrove, covered with tarpaulins, served as cattlesheds. No traces of
wild beasts had been found as yet.
However, it was necessary to think of preparing for the return of the
winter season, which, if not cold, was at any rate disturbed by those
torrential rains of the intertropical regions, which last from nine
to ten weeks. To remain at Tent Home, where all the stores from the
_Landlord_ would be kept, would mean risking the precious cargo saved
from the wreck. The encampment could not promise absolute safety. The
rains must swell the river into a torrent, and if it overflowed its
banks all the arrangements and fittings of Tent Home might be swept
away.
Thus M. Zermatt was justifiably anxious about finding a safe shelter,
when chance came to his rescue in the following circumstances.
On the right bank of Jackal River, a little to the rear of Tent Home,
there arose a wall of thick rock, in which with pick and hammer, and
perhaps with mine, a grotto could be excavated. Fritz, Ernest, and Jack
set about the task, but the work was making poor progress when, one
morning, the tool that Jack was wielding went right through the rock.
"I have gone through the mountain!" the lad cried out.
The fact was there was a vast hollow inside the solid mass. Before
entering it, in order to purify the air, bunches of burning grass were
thrown inside, followed by rockets found in the _Landlord's_ powder
chest. Then by the light of torches, father, mother, and sons gazed
with wonder and admiration at the stalactites which hung from its
vault, the crystals of rock salt which jewelled it, and the carpet of
fine sand with which its floor was covered.
A dwelling-place was speedily fitted up within it. It was furnished
with windows taken from the ship's stern gallery and escape pipes
to carry off the smoke from the stoves. On the left hand were
the work-shop, the stables and the cattlesheds; to the rear, the
storerooms, separated by partitions of planking.
On the right hand there were three rooms: the first allotted to the
father and mother; the second intended to serve as a dining-room; the
third occupied by the four boys, whose hammocks were hung from the
roof. A few weeks more, and this new installation left nothing to be
desired.
Later on, other establishments were founded in the midst of the grass
lands and the woods to the west of the coast line, which ran seven
miles between Falconhurst and False Hope Point. The farmstead of Wood
Grange was created, near Swan Lake; then, a little further inland, the
farmstead of Sugar-cane Grove; then, on a little hill near the cape,
the villa of Prospect Hill; and finally, the hermitage of Eberfurt, at
the entrance to the defile of Cluse, which bounded the Promised Land on
the west.
The Promised Land was the name given to the fertile country protected
on the south and west by a lofty barrier of rock which ran from Jackal
River to the shore of Nautilus Bay. On the east extended the coast
between Rock Castle and False Hope Point. On the north lay the open
sea. This territory, seven and a half miles wide by ten miles long,
would have been adequate to the needs of quite a little colony. It
was there that the family kept the domestic animals and the wild
animals which they had tamed--an onager, two buffaloes, an ostrich,
a jackal, a monkey, and an eagle. There the plantations of native
growths flourished, with all the fruit trees of which the _Landlord_
had carried a complete assortment, oranges, peaches, apples, apricots,
chestnuts, cherries, plums, and even vines, which, under the warm sun
of this land, were destined to produce a wine far superior to the palm
wine of intertropical regions.
Beyond doubt nature had befriended the shipwrecked family; but their
contribution in hard work, energy, and intelligence, was considerable.
From these sprang the prosperity of this land, to which, in memory of
their own fatherland, they gave the name of New Switzerland.
Within a year nothing remained of the wrecked vessel. An explosion
carefully prepared by Fritz scattered its last fragments, which were
picked up at various points along the coast. Before this was done
everything of value which it contained had been removed: the articles
which had been intended for trade with the planters of Port Jackson
and the savages of Oceania, the property of the passengers--jewels,
watches, snuff-boxes, rings, necklaces, and money amounting to a
large sum, which was, however, valueless on this isolated land in the
Indian Ocean. But other articles taken from the _Landlord_ were of
incalculable benefit, iron bars, pig lead, cart wheels ready to be
fitted, whetstones, pickaxes, saws, mattocks, spades, ploughshares,
iron wire, benches, vices, carpenter's, locksmith's, and blacksmith's
tools, a hand mill, a saw mill, an entire assortment of cereals, maize,
oats, and the like, and quantities of vegetable seeds.
The family spent the first rainy season under favourable conditions.
They lived in the grotto, and busied themselves in arranging it to
the best advantage. The furniture from the ship--seats, presses, pier
tables, sofas, and beds--were distributed among the rooms of this
dwelling-place, and now that it no longer consisted of tents the name
of Rock Castle was substituted for the former one of Tent Home.
Several years passed. No ship was seen in these remote waters. Yet
nothing had been omitted to draw attention to the situation of the
survivors of the _Landlord_. A battery was installed on Shark's Island,
containing two small four-pounder cannon. Fritz and Jack fired these
guns from time to time, but never obtained any reply from the open sea.
There was no indication that New Switzerland was inhabited anywhere in
the neighbourhood of this district. The country was almost certainly
a rather large one, and one day while making a journey of exploration
southwards as far as the barrier of rock which was pierced by the
defile of Cluse, M. Zermatt and his sons reached the far end of a
verdant valley, the "Green Valley." Thence a wide horizon spread before
their eyes, bounded by a range of mountains at a distance estimated at
five and twenty miles.
The possibility that this unknown land was roamed by savage tribes
caused them grave anxiety. But none had been seen in the neighbourhood
of the Promised Land. The only danger there was from the attacks of a
few wild animals, outside the actual district--bears, tigers, lions,
and serpents--amongst others one enormous boa-constrictor, which had
penetrated as far as the outer premises of Rock Castle, and to which
the ass fell a prey.
The following are some of the native products from which M. Zermatt
derived much advantage, for he had a very full knowledge of natural
history, botany, and geology. A tree resembling the wild fig-tree,
from whose cracked bark a gum was distilled, yielded india-rubber,
which rendered possible the manufacture of several articles, among
them water-proof boots. From certain other trees, they gathered a
kind of wax which was used in making candles. The cocoanuts, besides
supply food, were converted into almost unbreakable bowls and cups. The
cabbage palm yielded a refreshing drink, known as palm wine; the beans
of a cacao furnished a rather bitter chocolate, and the sago-tree a
pith which, when soaked and kneaded, yielded a most nutritious flour
constantly used in cooking. There was never any lack of sweetening,
thanks to the swarms of bees, which produced honey in abundance. There
was flax from the lanceolate leaves of the _phormium tenax_, though the
carding and spinning of this was not effected without some trouble.
Plaster was obtained by making red hot and then reducing to powder
fragments of the actual rock wall of Rock Castle. Cotton was found
in seed pods full to bursting. From the fine dust of another grotto
fuller's earth was taken and used to make soap. There were clove-apples
of extraordinary succulence. From the bark of the _ravensara_ an
aromatic flavouring was obtained in which the savours of nutmeg and
cinnamon were mingled. From a mica shot with long asbestos threads,
discovered in an adjacent cave, a kind of glass was manufactured.
Beavers and rabbits supplied fur for clothing. There were euphorbium
gum, useful for various medicinal purposes, china-clay, mead for a
refreshing beverage, and delicious jellies made from seaweed collected
on Whale Island in accordance with a method which Mme. Zermatt had
learned at Cape Town.
To all this wealth must be added the resources rendered available to
bold hunters by the fauna of New Switzerland. Among the wild animals
from which they had, though very occasionally, to defend themselves
were the tapir, lion, bear, jackal, tiger-cat, tiger, crocodile,
panther, and elephant; while the depredations of the apes were so
serious as to necessitate a general massacre. Among the quadrupeds,
some of which were capable of domestication, were the onager and the
buffalo, and among the winged tribe were an eagle, which became Fritz's
hunting bird, and an ostrich which Jack trained to be his favourite
mount.
As for game, both furred and feathered, there was abundance in the
woods round about Wood Grange and the hermitage at Eberfurt. Jackal
River supplied excellent crayfish. Among the rocks on the shore
molluscs and crustaceans swarmed. And finally, the sea teemed with
herrings, sturgeon, salmon, and other fish.
During this long period no journeys of exploration were carried out
beyond the country between Nautilus Bay and Deliverance Bay. The coast
beyond False Hope Point was explored later, to a distance of about
twenty-five miles. Besides the pinnace M. Zermatt now possessed a
longboat, built under his direction. And further, at Fritz's request,
they made a light canoe of the Greenlander pattern known as a kayak,
using the whalebone taken from a whale which had been stranded at the
entrance to Flamingo Bay for the ribs of the craft and the skins of
dog-fish for her hull. This portable canoe, which careful caulking and
tarring rendered quite water-tight, was provided with openings in which
two paddlers could sit; the second could be hermetically closed when
only the first was occupied.
Ten years passed without any incidents of serious importance. M.
Zermatt, now forty-five years of age, enjoyed invariable good health
and possessed a moral and physical endurance which had been developed
to a higher degree by the uncertainties of an existence so far removed
from the ordinary. Betsy, the energetic mother of four sons, was
entering upon her forty-third year. Neither her physical strength nor
her courage was abated, nor yet her love for her husband and children.
Fritz, now twenty-five, and the possessor of astonishing strength,
suppleness, and skill, with a frank countenance, open face and
amazingly keen eyes, had improved enormously in character.
Ernest, of graver bent than his twenty-two years warranted, and more
skilled in mental than in physical exercises, was a great contrast to
Fritz, and had educated himself highly by drawing upon the library
taken from the _Landlord_.
Jack at twenty bubbled over with the joy of life. He was vivacity
and perpetual motion incarnate, as adventurous as Fritz and as
passionately fond of sport.
Although little Frank had now become a big boy of sixteen, his mother
still petted and made much of him as if he were only ten.
Thus the existence of this family was as happy as could be, and many a
time Mme. Zermatt used to say to her husband:
"Ah, my dear, would it not be real happiness if we could always live
with our children, and if, in this solitude, we were not obliged to
pass away one after another, leaving the survivors to sorrow and
forlornness! Yes, I would bless the God who has given us this paradise
on earth! But, alas, a day will come when we must close our eyes."
That was, and had ever been, the gravest preoccupation of Betsy's mind.
Often did she and M. Zermatt confide to one another their only too
well-founded apprehensions on this score. But this year, an unexpected
event happened which was destined to modify their present and perhaps
their future situation.
On the 9th of April, about seven o'clock in the morning, when M.
Zermatt came out of the house with Ernest, Jack and Frank, he looked in
vain for his eldest son, whom he supposed to be engaged in some work
outside.
Fritz was often absent, and there was nothing in his being away now
to make his father or his mother uneasy, although Mme. Zermatt was
always rather nervous when her son ventured out on the open sea beyond
Deliverance Bay.
It was practically certain that the intrepid young fellow was at sea,
since the canoe was not in its shelter.
As the afternoon was wearing on M. Zermatt, with Ernest and Jack, took
the boat to Shark's Island, there to watch for Fritz's return. It was
arranged that M. Zermatt should fire a cannon if he were delayed in
getting home, in order that his wife might not be left in a state of
uncertainty.
There was, however, no occasion for this. Father and sons had barely
set foot on the island when Fritz came round False Hope Point. Directly
they saw him, M. Zermatt, Ernest, and Jack took to their boat again.
They landed in the bay at Rock Castle at the same moment that Fritz
jumped out onto the beach.
Fritz was then obliged to narrate the events of his voyage, which had
lasted for nearly twenty-four hours. For some time past he had been
contemplating an exploration of the northern coast. So that morning he
had taken his eagle, Blitz, and put his canoe in the water. He took
some provisions, an axe, a harpoon, a boat-hook, fishing lines, a gun,
a pair of pistols, a game-bag, and a flask of mead. The wind blowing
off shore, the ebb tide carried him rapidly beyond the cape, and he
followed the line of shore, sloping somewhat towards the south-west.
Behind the point, and behind a succeeding mass of enormous rocks piled
up by nature in awful disorder as the result of some violent volcanic
convulsion, a spacious bay was hollowed out in the coast, bounded on
the far side by a perpendicular promontory. This bay furnished an
asylum for all kinds of sea-birds, which made the welkin ring with
their cries. On the shore huge amphibians snored in the sun, seabears,
seals, walruses and others, while countless myriads of graceful
nautiluses rode on the surface of the water.
Fritz was not anxious to have any dealings with these formidable
sea-monsters in his frail boat. So, pushing out towards the mouth of
the bay, he continued his voyage westward.
After rounding a point of singular shape, to which he gave the name
of Cape Snub-nose, he entered a natural archway, the foot of whose
pillars was washed by the surf. Here there were thousands of swallows,
whose nests were plastered to the crannies of the walls and roof. Fritz
detached several of these nests, which were of strange construction,
and put them in a bag.
"These swallows' nests," said M. Zermatt, interrupting his son's story,
"are a very valuable article of commerce in China."
Outside the archway Fritz found another bay, contained between two
capes situated about four miles apart. These were linked together, so
to speak, by a sprinkling of reefs with an opening only wide enough to
permit the passage of a ship of three or four hundred tons at most.
Behind the bay, as far as eye could see, rolled broad savannahs watered
by clear streams, woods, marshes, and landscapes of every variety. The
bay itself held treasure of inexhaustible value in the shape of pearl
oysters, some magnificent samples of which Fritz brought back with him.
After partly rounding the inside of the bay, and crossing the mouth of
a river teeming with aquatic plants of every kind, the canoe reached
the promontory opposite the archway.
Fritz then decided that he must not carry his expedition any further.
The hour was getting late, so he resumed his course to the coast,
making for False Hope Point, which he rounded before the gun on Shark's
Island had been fired.
This was the story the young man told of the voyage which resulted in
the discovery of Pearl Bay. But when he was alone with M. Zermatt, he
amazed his father by telling him more in confidence.
Among the countless birds which wheeled and wound above the
promontory--sea-swallows, sea-gulls and frigate-birds--there were also
several pairs of albatrosses, one of which Fritz knocked down with a
blow from his boat-hook.
While he was holding the bird on his knees, Fritz saw a scrap of coarse
linen tied round one of its feet, and on this was legibly written in
English:
"Whoever you may be to whom God may send this message from an unhappy
woman, look for a volcanic island which you will know by the flames
escaping from one of its craters. Save the unfortunate woman who is
alone on the Burning Rock!"
Somewhere in the waters of New Switzerland, a hapless girl or woman
was living, had perhaps been living for several years, upon an island,
with none of the resources which the _Landlord_ had provided for the
shipwrecked family!
"What did you do?" M. Zermatt asked.
"The only thing that could be done," Fritz replied. "I tried to restore
the albatross, which was only stunned by the blow from the boat-hook,
and I succeeded in doing so by pouring a little mead down its beak.
On a piece of my handkerchief I wrote with the blood of a sea otter
these words in English: 'Put your trust in God. Perhaps His help is
near.' Then I tied the piece of handkerchief to the albatross's foot,
feeling sure that the bird was a tame one, and would go back to Burning
Rock with my message. The minute I set it free the albatross flew off
towards the west, so fast that I soon lost sight of it, and it was
quite impossible for me to go after it."
M. Zermatt was deeply concerned. What could he do to rescue
this unfortunate woman? Where was the Burning Rock? In the near
neighbourhood of New Switzerland or hundreds of miles to the west?
The albatross is powerful and tireless in flight, and can travel vast
distances. Had this one come from some far distant sea which the
pinnace could not reach?
Fritz was warmly commended by his father for having confided the secret
to him only, since its disclosure might only have upset the other boys
and Mme. Zermatt to no good purpose. The shipwrecked girl on Burning
Rock might now be dead. The note had no date on it. Several years might
have passed since the message was tied to the foot of the albatross.
So the secret was kept. Unhappily it was only too plain that no attempt
could be made to discover the English girl on her island.
However, M. Zermatt resolved to explore Pearl Bay and ascertain the
value of the oyster beds it contained. Betsy agreed, though rather
reluctantly, to remain at Rock Castle with Frank. Ernest and Jack were
to accompany their father.
The next day but one, the 11th of April, the longboat left the little
cove by Jackal River and was rapidly borne by the current towards
the north. Several of the pet animals joined the ship's company: the
monkey, Nip the Second, Jack's jackal, the old dog Floss, and lastly
Brownie and Fawn, two dogs in the prime of life.
Fritz, in his canoe, went in front of the boat, and having rounded
False Hope Point he took the westerly course through the midst of the
rocks where the walruses and other amphibian creatures of this shore
abounded.
But it was not these creatures that attracted M. Zermatt's attention
so much as the countless nautiluses already observed by Fritz. The
whole bay was covered with these graceful creatures, their little sails
spread out to catch the breeze, like a fleet of moving flowers.
After covering some seven miles from False Hope Point, Fritz pointed
out at the far end of Nautilus Bay Cape Snub-nose, a cape which really
was exactly like a nose of that shape. Four miles further on the
archway curved up, and beyond that was Pearl Bay.
As they went through this archway Ernest and Jack collected a quantity
of nests of the esculent swallow, though the birds defended them with
fury.
When the boat had passed through the narrow strait between the archway
and the ridge of reefs, the spacious bay was revealed in its full
extent, twenty to twenty-five miles in circumference.
It was a pure delight to sail over the surface of this splendid sheet
of water, from the midst of which three or four wooded islands emerged.
The bay was enclosed by verdant pasture lands, dense groves, and
picturesque hills. On the west, there ran into it a pretty river, whose
bed was hidden among the trees.
The boat touched shore in a little creek, close to the pearl oyster
bed. As evening was closing in, M. Zermatt pitched camp by the edge
of a stream. A fire was lighted, and some eggs were roasted in its
ashes; these, with pemmican, potatoes, and maize biscuits, furnished
the repast. Then, as a matter of precaution, all found quarters in
the boat, leaving to Brownie and Fawn the duty of defending the camp
against the jackals which could be heard howling all along the stream.
Three days, from the 12th to the 14th, were spent in fishing for
oysters, all of which held pearls. In the evening Fritz and Jack went
out after duck and partridge in a little wood on the right bank of
the water-course. They were obliged to be on their guard. Boars were
plentiful in this wood, and there were other more formidable animals.
Indeed, in the evening of the 14th, a huge lion and lioness appeared,
roaring and waving their tails in fury. After the lion had fallen, shot
through the heart by Fritz, the lioness fell too, but not before, with
a blow of her paw, she had broken the skull of poor old Floss, to her
master's keen regret.
Thus it was established that some wild beasts inhabited this portion
of New Switzerland, to the south and west of Pearl Bay, and outside
the Promised Land. It was a happy chance that hitherto none of these
creatures had forced their way into that district through the defile
of Cluse; but M. Zermatt determined to block up this defile, which cut
through the rampart of rock, as effectually as he could.
In the meanwhile a general instruction was issued, especially to Fritz
and Jack, whose passion for hunting sometimes led them into imprudent
excursions, that care should be taken to avoid such encounters as this.
The whole of this day was devoted to emptying the oysters piled up on
the shore, and as this mass of molluscs was beginning to throw off
exhalations that were anything but healthy, M. Zermatt and his sons
determined to leave next morning at daybreak. It was necessary to
return to Rock Castle, for Mme. Zermatt would be anxious. So the boat
set out, preceded by the canoe. But when they reached the archway,
Fritz passed a note to his father, and then sped away in the direction
of the west. M. Zermatt could not fail to understand that he was going
off to find the Burning Rock.