began to feel the need of it. At the edge of the eminence, on the
southern side, grew several large cocoa-nut trees, fully three feet in
diameter at the base, and rising to the height of seventy or eighty feet
at the very least. Eiulo was the only one of our number, who would have
dreamed of undertaking to climb either of them; he, however, after
finding a young purau, and providing himself with a strip of the bark,
fastened the ends about his ankles, and then firmly clasping the trunk
of one of the trees with his hands and feet alternately, the latter
being as wide apart as the ligature would permit, he vaulted rapidly and
easily upward, and soon gained the dizzy height where the nuts grew.
Once fairly perched in the tuft of the tree among the stems of the
enormous leaves, where he looked scarcely larger than a monkey, he
quickly supplied us with as many cocoa-nuts as we could put to present
use. Loading ourselves with the fruit, we returned to our first
resting-place, and after piling the nuts in a heap, reclined around it,
after the manner of the ancients at their banquets, while we enjoyed our
repast. Though all these nuts were gathered from the same tree, and, in
fact, from the same cluster, some of them contained nothing but liquid,
the kernel not having yet begun to form, and in these the milk was most
abundant and delicious: in others, a soft, jelly-like, transparent pulp,
delicate and well-flavoured, had commenced forming on the inner shell:
in others, again, this pulp had become thicker and firmer, and more like
the kernel of the imported nut, the milk having diminished in quantity,
and lost in a great measure its agreeable taste.
Johnny, after having tried all the different varieties with the zeal of
an epicure, declared that he was beginning to get sick of cocoa-nuts: he
wondered whether we should have to live entirely on cocoa-nuts and
shell-fish, and whether there was not some bread-fruit on the island.
"If there is," said Browne, "it will be of no use to us, unless we can
find means to make a fire, and cook it."
"Make a fire!" cried Johnny, "that's easy enough--all we've got to do,
is just to get two dry sticks and rub them together briskly for a few
minutes. None of the shipwrecked people I ever read of, had any trouble
about that."
"How lucky we are," cried Max, gravely, "in having some one with us, who
has read all about all the desert islanders that have ever lived, and
can tell us just what to do in an emergency! Please get a couple of
those dry sticks which you speak of, Johnny, and show us how unfortunate
castaways in our condition, are accustomed to kindle a fire."
Without seeming, in the simplicity of his heart, to suspect for a moment
the perfect good faith and sincerity of Max's compliment, Johnny
commenced casting about for some sticks or pieces of wood, with which to
make the experiment. He soon found a fallen branch of the inocarpus,
well baked by the sun, and which had long lost every particle of
moisture. Breaking it into two pieces, he began to rub them together
with great zeal, and apparently with perfect faith in the result:
gradually he increased his exertions, manifesting a commendable
perseverance, until the bark began to fly, and the perspiration to
stream down his face; but still there was no fire, nor any sign of it.
Meantime, Max encouraged him to proceed.
"Keep it a-going, Johnny!" he cried, "if you stop for half a second, you
lose all your labour; only persevere, and you're sure to succeed; none
of the shipwrecked people you ever read of had any trouble about it, you
know."
But Johnny concluded that the sticks could not be of the right kind, and
notwithstanding Max's exhortations, he at last gave up the attempt.
Morton, however, not discouraged by this unfortunate result, nor by
Max's disposition to make fun of the experiment expressed a belief that
the thing could be done, and after preparing the sticks by cutting away
one of the rounded sides of each, he went to work with an earnestness
and deliberation, that caused us to augur favourably of his success.
After nearly ten minutes powerful and incessant friction, the sticks
began to smoke, and Johnny, tossing his cap into the air, gave an
exulting "Hurrah!"
But his rejoicing proved premature, for, though the wood fairly smoked,
that was the utmost that could be attained, and Morton was obliged to
desist, without having produced a flame.
Eiulo had been watching these proceedings with great interest; and he
now intimated by signs that he would make a trial. Taking the sticks,
he cut one of them to a point, with Arthur's knife, and made a small
groove along the flat surface of the other, which he then placed with
one end upon the ground, and the other against his breast, the grooved
side being upwards. Placing the point of the first stick in the groove,
he commenced moving it up and down along the second, pressing them hard
together. The motion was at first slow and regular, but increased
constantly in rapidity. By-and-bye the wood began to smoke again, and
then Eiulo continued the operation with greater vigour than ever. At
length a fine dust, which had collected at the lower extremity of the
groove, actually took fire; Arthur quickly inserted the edge of a
sun-dried cocoa-nut leaf in the tiny flame, and it was instantly in a
blaze.
"Bravo!" shouted Max, "that's what I consider a decided triumph of
heathenism over civilisation, and the story-books."
Morton now seized the sticks again, and imitating Eiulo's method of
proceeding, succeeded in kindling them, though it took him a
considerable time to do it: thus it was satisfactorily established, by
actual experiment, that we could obtain a fire whenever we should want
one.
The question was now raised, whether we should continue our exploration
further that day, or remain where we were until the following morning;
and as the heat was still very oppressive, and we were sufficiently
tired already, the latter course was unanimously determined upon.
Johnny liked the spot which we occupied so well, that he proposed
"building a hut" upon it, and making it our head-quarters, as long as we
should have to stay on the island. It was certainly a pleasant site;
and, commanding as it did a wide view of the ocean, vessels could be
descried at a greater distance, and signalled with a surer prospect of
attracting notice, than from any other locality yet known to us. From
the wooded summit, the land descended on every side--towards the shore
in a series of terraces--towards the interior in one smooth and
continuous slope, after which it again rose in a succession of densely
wooded eminences, irregular and picturesque in their outlines, and each
higher than the last as you proceeded inland; the farthest of them
towering up in strong relief against the south-eastern sky. The various
shades of the masses of different kinds of foliage, with which these
heights were clothed, from that of the pale-leaved candle-nut, to the
sombre green of the bread-fruit groves, contributed greatly to the
pleasing effect of the landscape. On the right, as you looked towards
the ocean, lay the flat tract, occupied by the sea-fowl, and which
Johnny had named after them. At nearly an equal distance on the left,
the line of the beach was broken, by what appeared to be a small grove,
or clump of trees, detached from the main forest, and planted directly
on the line of the shore.
As we had concluded to suspend our explorations until the next day,
every one was left to his own resources for the remainder of the
afternoon. Johnny having set Morton at work, to make him a bow, "to
shoot birds with," began to occupy himself in the very important task of
finding an appropriate name for the height, which he finally concluded
to call "Castle-Hill," from its regular shape and bold steep outlines.
Max extended himself on his back in the coolest nook he could find, and
spreading his handkerchief over his face, to protect it from the gaudy,
but troublesome, winged insects which haunted the spot, forbade any one
to disturb him on pain of his high displeasure. Arthur, taking Eiulo
with him, proceeded upon a botanising tour about the neighbourhood, in
the hope of making some discovery that might prove useful to us. For my
own part, happening to think of the question which had been started in
the morning, as to the day of the week, I began to make a retrospect of
all that had taken place since the fearful night of the mutiny, and to
endeavour to fix the order of subsequent events, so as to arrive at the
number of days we had been at sea, and upon the island. In the course
of these calculations, and while Browne and myself were discussing the
matter, he suggested the want of pencil and paper. I found that the
last leaf had been torn from my pocket-book, and the rest were in an
equally destitute condition. In this strait, I remembered having heard
Arthur describe the manner in which the native children had been taught
to write in the missionary schools at Eimeo, the only materials used
being plantain leaves and a pointed stick. I mentioned this to Browne,
and we forthwith proceeded to experiment with different kinds of leaves,
until at last we found a large heart-shaped one, which answered our
purpose admirably; it was white, and soft as velvet on the under side,
and marks made upon it with the rounded point of a small stick, were
perfectly distinct, showing of a dark green colour upon a white ground.
Late in the afternoon, Arthur and Eiulo returned from their tour of
examination, having made, as Arthur intimated, some discoveries, of
which, in due time, we should all reap the benefit. Morton having found
a tough and elastic kind of wood, had shaped a tolerable bow for Johnny,
when it came to providing a string, the resources of both failed. The
difficulty being made known to Eiulo, he volunteered to supply what was
wanted, and went with Johnny and Morton into the adjoining forest to
look for a certain kind of bark, from which to make the required cord.
"There!" said Arthur, when we were left alone together; "how capitally
this excursion has worked. How differently things seem from what they
did yesterday, when we were at the islet, perfectly stagnant and stupid.
One would not take us for the same people. Only let us always have
something to do, something to interest and busy ourselves about, and we
need not be very miserable, even on a desert island."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
CAMPING OUT.
A DESPERATE ENGAGEMENT--JOHNNY DISCOVERS AN "OYSTER TREE"--VAGRANTS, OR
KINGS?--A SLEEPING PRESCRIPTION.
"Travellers ne'er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn them: If in Naples,
I should report this now, would they believe me?"
About sunset we went down to the beach to bathe. The trees along the
shore were occupied by immense crowds of exemplary sea-fowl, whose
regular and primitive habits of life had sent them to roost at this
early hour. Notwithstanding their webbed feet, they managed to perch
securely among the branches, many of which were so heavily freighted,
that they bent almost to the ground beneath their load.
Finding a spot where the beach shelved off gradually into deep water,
with a smooth, firm bottom, free from shells and corallines, we had a
refreshing swim. Afterwards, strolling along the shore by myself, I
found a large fish, beautifully marked with alternate black and yellow
bands, in a shallow, fenced off from the lagoon at low water, by a coral
ridge. The too eager pursuit of some of the smaller tribe of fishes,
had probably beguiled him into this trap, where he had been left by the
tide, to fall a victim, as I confidently reckoned, to his own rapacity.
All escape into deep water seemed to be pretty effectually cut off and I
looked upon him as already the captive of my bow and spear; but fearing
lest some of the others should come up to share the glory of securing so
splendid a prize, I forthwith set about effecting his actual capture.
Rolling my trowsers above my knees, I waded into the water to drive him
ashore; but I soon found that my task was not going to prove by any
means as easy as I had anticipated. My intended victim was exceedingly
vigorous and active, and as ferocious as a pike. He obstinately refused
to be driven at all, and struggled and floundered as desperately as if
he already had a vivid presentiment of the frying-pan, snapping
viciously at my fingers whenever I undertook to lay hold of him. To add
to the aggravating features of the case, he seemed to bristle all over
with an inordinate and unreasonable quantity of sharp-pointed fins and
spines, which must have been designed by nature as weapons of defence,
since there were certainly more of them than any fish could use to
advantage for swimming purposes. I began to suspect that I had caught a
Tartar; but I had now gone too far to back out with credit: my
self-respect wouldn't admit of the thought. So, taking a short
breathing spell, I again advanced to the attack, somewhat encouraged by
perceiving that my scaly antagonist seemed exhausted and distressed by
his recent exertions. His mouth was wide open, and his gills quivered;
but I was rather uncertain whether to regard this as a hostile
demonstration, or a sign of pain and fatigue. However, at it we went;
and, after getting my hands badly cut by some of the aforesaid bristling
spines and fins, besides being drenched with water, and plastered all
over with wet sand, which he splashed about in the struggle, I succeeded
in seizing him firmly by the tail, and throwing him high and dry upon
the beach. I then scooped out a hollow in the sand, a little above the
tide-mark, and filling it with water, pushed him into it, thus securing
him for the present.
Max, Morton, and Browne, who had been practising climbing cocoa-nut
trees, at the edge of the wood, with very indifferent success, had
witnessed, from a distance, the latter part of the "engagement," as Max
facetiously called it; and they now came up to learn the particulars,
and to inquire "whether it was a shark, or a young whale, that I had
been having such a terrible time with." While they were admiring my
captive, and jocosely condoling with me on the hard usage which I had
received, the voice of Johnny, (who, accompanied by Eiulo, had ventured
to stroll off in the direction of the point), was heard, raised to its
highest pitch, as he shouted for us to "come and see something strange."
But it seemed that his impatience would not permit him to await the
result of his summons, for the next moment he came running towards us in
a state of great excitement, and all out of breath, crying out that he
had "found a tree covered with oysters," and he had no doubt, there were
"lots more of them."
"A tree covered with _what_?" inquired Browne, dubiously.
"With oysters--with fine, large oysters!" cried Johnny, "just come and
see for yourselves."
"Wonderful island! productive soil!" exclaimed Max, in mock admiration.
"If oysters will take root, and grow here, I suppose pretty much any
thing will: I believe I will plant my boots to-morrow: they may do for
seed, and are good for nothing else any longer--don't you begin to think
this must be an enchanted island, Johnny?"
"O, you may make fun of it, if you please; but it's true: and if you'll
come with me, I'll shew you the trees."
"Well," said Browne, "I am ready for almost any thing in the way of the
marvellous, since having seen a solid and substantial-looking island
turn into a vapour, and vanish away before my very eyes. I shall be
careful about doubting any thing, until I get back to some Christian
country, where things go on regularly. For the present, I am in state
of mind to believe in phoenixes and unicorns--and why not in
oyster-trees? Who knows but we have happened upon a second Prospero's
isle? Lead on, Johnny, and bring us to this wonderful tree." And
Johnny started off accordingly, followed by Browne and Morton.
In a moment the latter was heard calling out, "I say, Max! do you
understand conchology?"
"Yes, enough to tell a bivalve when I see one: should like to have a
`dozen fried' before me now."
"If a `dozen raw' will answer, just step this way, and we'll accommodate
you equal to Florence."
On hastening to the spot, all scepticism as to the "oysters growing on
trees," was speedily removed. A row of mangroves lined the shore for
some distance, each elevated upon its white pile of protruding and
intertwisted roots. Attached to the branches of these trees, which
overhung the water and drooped into it at high tide, were abundance of
fair-sized oysters. Looking down into the water beneath the mangroves,
I perceived the certain indications of an extensive and well-stocked
oyster-bed. The bottom was thickly covered with them, in every stage of
growth multitudes being scarcely larger than a sixpence. I could also
see, through the shallow water, an immense number of little white
specks, like drops of spermaceti, scattered about among them. It was
evident, that here was an abundant and unfailing supply of these
delicious shell-fish.
Browne broke off from one of the trees a large branch, having half a
dozen oysters attached to it, with which he hastened to confront the
unbelieving Max, and flourishing it in his face, demanded to know if he
was "convinced now." Although constrained to admit that they _looked_
very like oysters, Max seemed to consider the evidence of more than one
of the senses necessary to afford satisfactory proof of so extraordinary
a phenomenon, and accordingly proceeded to see how they tasted.
After opening one of the largest, (using his cutlass as an
oyster-knife), and making the experiment with due deliberation, he
announced himself perfectly satisfied.
By the time we had all sufficiently tasted the quality of the oysters,
(which were really very good, and well-flavoured, notwithstanding the
unusual position in which they were discovered), it had become quite
dark. Though the evening was fine, there was not much light, the moon
and stars glimmering faintly through a soft purple haze, which, as I had
observed since we had been on the island, generally seemed to fill the
atmosphere for a short time after sunset, and at a little later hour
entirely disappeared. As we strolled back towards the foot of
"Castle-Hill," Johnny suddenly looked up, and inquired, as if the
thought had just occurred to him, where we were going to sleep.
"That's a pretty question to ask," said Browne, laughing, "it implies
that we are common vagrants."
"So we are, strictly speaking," answered Max, "we have no regular means
of living, and no fixed place of abode, and that I believe, makes us
common vagrants, according to Webster."
"I should think our means of living were `regular' enough to rescue us
from the definition," replied Morton, "having been thus far, cocoa-nuts
and mussels every day, and all day long, and nothing but cocoa-nuts and
mussels. I am glad that there is now some prospect of a little more
irregularity in future."
"As to our having no fixed habitation or place of abode," said Browne,
"that does not arise from poverty, or lack of land--`the isle is all
before us where to choose'--and we are now on a tour of observation
through our extensive domains, in order to decide upon the finest spot
for our head-quarters. Meantime, for a night or two, we shall have to
be satisfied with `a tent in the green wood, a home in the grove,' in
other words, we shall have to `camp out,' as the most renowned hunters
and soldiers have frequently done before us. I'm sure there's no
vagrancy in that."
"Why," cried Johnny, forgetting for the moment his anxiety on the score
of our quarters for the night, "we are no more vagrants than Robinson
Crusoe was:--
"`We are monarchs of all we survey,
And our realm there is none to dispute,'
"As he says of himself so that we are much more like kings than
vagrants."
"And the sea-birds and fishes," said Max, "are to be considered as our
subjects, I presume, since we have no man Friday, and no goats or
poll-parrots to reign over."
"Yes," said Johnny, "I suppose so; there are enough of them too."
"And some very disloyal, rebellious, and stiff-necked ones among them,"
added Max, "who ought to be dealt with as traitors forthwith--that
sturdy feathered rebel for instance, who, not regarding the
inviolability of the royal person, no longer ago than this morning laid
one of our royal majesties sprawling upon his royal back."
"And that other scaly traitor," added Browne, "who perversely refused to
come out of the water to be cooked, in accordance with the royal will,
and who nearly bit off the sacred thumb of one of our majesties, in
resisting the royal authority."
"Well, Johnny," said Max, "if we are not actually kings, we at any rate
have some royal blood upon the island. Not to speak of myself, who am
descended direct from `Kaiser Maximilien,' here is Eiulo, who is a real
prince, his father being King of the Cannibal Islands, or some other
islands in these seas."
"I wish you wouldn't speak so of Eiulo's father," said Johnny, warmly,
"he is not a cannibal, and I believe he is a very good man; I think his
islands are near here, and if we should one day get there, he would
treat us kindly, and let us go home whenever we should have an
opportunity."
"Hilloa!" cried Max, "what has put all that into your head? What do you
know about Eiulo's father, or his islands, or where they are?"
This sudden outburst of Johnny's surprised us all, with perhaps the
exception of Arthur, and we listened with some interest, as he replied
to Max's volley of questions.
"Oh, I have talked with Eiulo about it," he answered, "mostly by signs;
and he has made me understand that he believes his home is not far
distant--off in that direction, (pointing north), and that ships
sometimes stop there; and so I have been thinking that if we could only
find the way there, we should have some prospect of getting home at
last."
Upon this we became silent and thoughtful; nothing further was said,
until Johnny recurred to the question which he had started a few moments
before, and again asked where we proposed to pass the night.
"Not in those gloomy woods, I hope," said he, "where it is so lonely,
and the wind and the trees make such strange noises. I would rather
sleep down here upon the shore; this nice dry, white sand, up where the
water never comes, will make a very good bed."
Thus far, we had passed every night upon the islet, to which we had now
become familiarised and accustomed. Its small extent, and separation
from the mainland, gave it an air of security, which made us feel more
at our ease there at night, than we could among the sombre and
unexplored forests of the larger island, about which we as yet knew so
little. Johnny's timidity was not therefore unnatural. Indeed, unless
I am mistaken, none of us was, on this first night of our exploration,
entirely free from a vague spirit of insecurity, and of liability to
some unknown danger.
"That will hardly do, Johnny," said Browne, in answer to his suggestion
about taking up our quarters for the night upon the shore, "a heap of
dry pandanus leaves will make a much more comfortable bed than the hard
sand. Thus I propose to arrange it--we will go up to the top of the
hill where we rested to-day, and lodge there; our beds of leaves shall
be all in a circle, and Johnny's shall be in the middle; and then he
won't feel lonesome or afraid, for all the uncanny noises of the wind
and the trees; knowing that he has good friends and true all around him,
and particularly one stout John Browne, who is worth all the rest
together, being a fair match for any thing in this part of the
South-Seas!" and by way of raising Johnny's spirits, and inspiring him
with the greater confidence in the prowess of his protector, he
flourished his cutlass, and went scientifically through the broad-sword
exercise, slashing and carving away at his imaginary antagonist, with a
fierceness and vigour wonderful to behold, having lopped off an
indefinite quantity of airy heads and limbs, be finished, by reciting
with a bold and warlike air--
"Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled!
Scots wham Bruce has aften led!" etcetera.
This demonstration seemed to produce the desired effect and Johnny soon
became reassured, and quite reconciled to "camping out" in the woods.