I am attacked with delirium.—I set out on a journey of
discovery in the dead of night.—I encounter a boa, and a bat
with gigantic wings.—I reach the sea shore.—Simplicity of the
oyster; acuteness of the Ape.—I hoist a signal, and then fall
asleep from sheer exhaustion.
I open my eyes and perceive this crowd of apes all flying off, in the
same direction, with the rapidity of a cannon-ball. Thousands upon
thousands of tails streak the horizon. These at length disappear, and
fainter and fainter grows that chattering noise with which they have
sought to excite one another to triple their speed, till at last it
sounds merely like a tingling in the ear when one is troubled with a rush
of blood to the head. The air is pure, the earth has already recovered
its serenity, as after the disappearance of some fetid mist; I spring
to my feet, I breathe freely, I feel as though I were born again! But
whence came this marvellous shriek? and what strange creature had given
utterance to it? Was it a leopard wounded to death? Was it merely some
amorous tiger? Was it a human being? No, it could not have been. And how
came it, too, to be so generally comprehended? How was I to discover
this? Of whom could I inquire? Silence and solitude had in the twinkling
of an eye taken the place of the frightful tumult and the savage and
grotesque scenes of a few moments before, but did this shriek signal the
fall of the curtain, or merely the conclusion of an act of the drama?
Was it, in plain words, an end or only a momentary suspension—this
spontaneous dispersion of all the monsters, who had left me as it were by
a miracle? Night was approaching; in fact, it had already set in. What
was I to do? What was to become of me in the midst of this scattered
colony, among unknown hordes which my imagination pictured as only the
more frightful, the longer they delayed to show themselves!
I might remain very well where I was till the next day, but had I
not reason to fear the return of my enemies, who would reappear more
determined than ever to torment me with their inexhaustible tricks,
and more particularly so now that they knew how much my superior they
were both in boldness and strength? On the other hand, where could I go
without encountering the risk of being devoured by the thousands of wild
animals which doubtless lay crouching, swollen with rage, within the
shadow of these almost impenetrable jungles?
The waverings of my mind brought on a burning fever, which caused my
brain to throb, like the booming of a large bell, or the roaring of the
billows breaking upon a rocky shore, and made me fancy at times that
I could hear sounds similar to those which come from great centres of
population; such, indeed, as I had heard in the neighbourhood of Goa
and Macao. Shipwrecked people, it is well known, have these singular
hallucinations. They are like clocks which have been set wrong, and keep
on going—the hands traversing the dial, but no longer marking the correct
time—and which strike at hazard.
During the continuance of this delirium, a bright red streak all at once
tinted the horizon, dividing it like a cut made with a knife in the rind
of a pomegranate. Suddenly this crimson line appeared to be swollen at a
particular point, and a globe of fire rose majestically in the sky. It
was the moon, which was nearly at the full. I believed that it was rising
for me alone, so much calm did it seem to bring me, while enveloping me
with its beautiful light. I took courage. My blood flowed more tranquilly
through my veins. I reasoned on my situation with sequence and lucidity,
and proved to myself that there was no serious reason for my remaining
any longer in the place where I then was. My resolution was soon taken,
and I proceeded to arm myself with the stoutest bamboo I could find
on the border of the lake, to serve me for a defensive weapon in case
of necessity. I then set about to determine whether this vast sheet
of limpid water, which was spread before me, had, as was probably the
case, some outlet through which it emptied itself into the sea. To be
enlightened on this geographical problem was of the utmost importance to
me.
Large sheets of water, although there are notable exceptions in Oceania,
generally fall into the sea; if the lake therefore, on the banks of
which I then was, had an important outlet, I was certain, by following
the course of it step by step, to arrive at the sea. And as it is rarely
the case that there are not certain spots on the banks of these streams
where the native population, guided by the instinct of want, have raised
their huts, I was equally certain to meet with these villages on my
way. To discover this outlet I determined, if necessary, to make the
circuit of the lake without deviating at all in my course, spite of
the jungles which threatened to prevent me. After walking for about an
hour a confused noise suddenly brought me to a standstill. I listened,
then hastened in the direction whence the sound proceeded, and found it
gradually growing more and more distinct, until at length I recognised
the murmur of a considerable cascade. What I was in search of was
evidently here. The waters of the lake fell into a second and lower
basin which, growing narrower a little further on, became the stream on
which I had counted. I followed the course of this natural canal, but
not without encountering strange difficulties by the way. It was not an
easy thing, as one may well believe, to continue walking for any length
of time along a bank composed of spongy vegetable remains, on which it
was altogether impossible to place one’s feet without sinking up to the
knees, and which was at times entirely hidden by a layer of fibrous
shoots, creepers, bamboos, and mimosas interwoven and crossed one over
another with so much tenacity that they formed a kind of archway, beneath
which I was forced to pass by, crawling along on my hands and knees. It
was in one of these dark tunnels, while placing my hands on the ground
so as to draw myself along, that I seized hold of something round and
slippery and cold as ice, whilst, at the same moment, a wing struck me
in the face, producing a double sensation of horror. The cold, round,
slippery thing was a serpent; the blow on my face was caused by a hideous
bat with slimy wings three or four feet in breadth. I still shudder when
I think of this frightful meeting.
For several hours I advanced thus towards an unknown goal, feeling more
and more persuaded, as I proceeded, that the portion of the island
already traversed by me, under the perilous conditions which I have just
endeavoured to relate, was not inhabited, unless, indeed, it happened to
contain other lakes and water-courses, a probability which was extremely
doubtful, considering the small extent of the islands composing the
group, in the centre of which I had been shipwrecked. I concluded,
therefore, that no inhabitant of the island was likely to be met with at
any considerable distance from this stream, along which, so far as I had
traced its course, there were no signs of human habitations to be seen. I
concluded, moreover, from a parity of reasoning, that the island did not
contain many wild beasts, since, as is well known from the testimony of
travellers and naturalists, they frequent by preference the muddy banks
of rivers, where they are certain to find, during the heat of the day,
coolness, shade, and, above all, numerous prey for which they lie in
wait, and, during the night, almost inaccessible retreats to which they
can retire.
When I perceived above me the open sky, and some leagues of clear ground,
both to my right hand and my left, the day was beginning to break. The
violent exertion I had undergone, joined to the sudden freshness of the
air, and the lightness of my yesterday’s repast, since fruit, however
good and luscious it may be, is scarcely sufficiently satisfying to
stomachs accustomed to the endless variety of food—the result of a high
state of civilisation—had made me as ravenous as a tiger. I have never
regretted so much as I then did, that Providence had not reserved to us,
for seasons of difficulty, the means of living on grass and plants like
animals of the herbivorous species, or endowed us like others with the
faculty of seizing our prey. In the primitive ages of the world we were
endowed perhaps with a less exclusive organisation; but, however this
may have been, I was dying with hunger in the midst of a paradise of
plants, ferns, and roots, which a horse or an ox would have considered
the rarest of delicacies. Whilst I was absorbed in these reflections,
it was gradually becoming lighter; objects began to stand out from
the background of delicate violet, tinted with yellow, which is the
forerunner of dawn in Oceania and southern China. A cool wind swept
across the earth, the sharpness and tempering quality of which convinced
me that it had already passed over the sea, which I would have wagered my
existence was not far distant. Other signs confirmed me in my belief; the
trees were neither so thick together nor so large; the heath, which was
more stunted in its growth, was gradually becoming more scanty. When the
sun showed itself above the horizon, I had only to exclaim, “There is the
sea!” and I very soon did so.
The sea was scarcely two hundred yards from me when I first caught sight
of its tiny waves—the same waves that were yesterday so furious—whitening
a complete bend of the shore. Supposing some degree of regularity
in the form of the island, this bend would give it, according to my
calculations, a circumference of thirty leagues. Moreover, admitting,
what I was satisfied of from observation, that the journey I had made
during the night was half the diameter of the entire island, that
is, five leagues, which is the average size of the islands of this
group. After having assured myself that the one half of the island was
uninhabited along the banks of the stream which I had already traversed,
I still entertained a hope that I might meet with a village on the
sea-shore the inhabitants of which might possibly be fishermen, a common
enough profession among the Malays; or they might perhaps do a little
trade by means of barter, which is a much less common profession; or they
might be pirates, a profession which is usually joined to all others in
these savage regions.
I commenced my excursion along the sea-shore, in spite of the fatigue
which I was suffering. I knew that I had no time to lose, since, if the
sun once rose in the heavens, its intense heat would render all bodily
exertion impossible in this torrid zone, for at least ten hours to come.
If for the first three miles I discovered no more traces of the island
being inhabited than I had met with during the previous evening, I could
scarcely doubt that my good friends the apes often visited this locality.
I recognised them by these signs. Thousands of oysters were spread upon
the beach; and at least two layers of these oysters had been opened—not
naturally, but with the aid of a little stone placed between the two
shells. Who had done this? Why, my apes, of course. It is well known
that oysters are a precious luxury to the entire monkey tribe, who are
obliged to be very cunning in procuring themselves this treat, which is
not without its attendant dangers. How do you suppose they manage this?
Why, by throwing a stone between the two shells, at the precise moment
that the oyster chances to gape; in this manner they are sure of their
prey, without having to make an exhibition of themselves with their hands
or their muzzles caught in the powerful grip of the oyster, who has the
preservative faculty of closing his shell directly he is seized hold of.
As oysters furnish a far more substantial dish than any quantity of
tropical fruit, and as my plundering and wasteful apes had opened more
of these delicacies than they had consumed, I commenced my repast with
a joyful heart. These bivalves were hardly equal to real Whitstable
natives, or even to the oysters of Ostend; nevertheless, five or six
dozen were rapidly devoured. A tankard of bitter ale would have been an
acceptable accompaniment; but as this was not to be had, I was forced
to content myself with bumpers of pure water, quaffed from the palm
of my hand. My appetite was no sooner appeased than, contrary to what
is usual under similar circumstances, my troubles of mind returned.
Was I, I again asked myself, about to be brought face to face with the
inhabitants of this island, either at the curve of some bay, or behind
some projecting mass of rock? Filled with this hope—or rather, with this
fear—I recommenced my explorations. But, after having ascended many
creeks, many little gulfs, on the banks of which the banyans displayed
their rich green foliage, I not only met with not a single inhabitant,
neither black, brown, yellow, nor copper-coloured—but, during the long
journey which I had performed, from five o’clock in the morning until
noon, at which hour the burning heat poured down by the sun on my poor
head forced me to halt, I had seen neither junk, nor canoe, nor any kind
of implement, no fragments of articles in common use among beings of the
slightest intelligence; in a word, no single trace of man.
As it was impossible to remain for any length of time, at this hour of
the day, on this exposed coast, burnt up, as I was, by the sun, I deemed
it prudent to proceed a short distance inland. On leaving the shore,
I gathered, some hundred yards off, a stick of bamboo, the straightest
and tallest I could find; and, after having stripped it of its leaves, I
fastened to the end of it one of the two white handkerchiefs which I had
about me at the moment of abandoning the junk, and planted it firmly in
the sand. If some vessel should perceive this signal—of which there was,
I feared, but little chance, the island being surrounded on all sides by
reefs—it would be advised of the presence of an unfortunate castaway, and
would, perhaps, make an effort to take him off.
The rude blows of the day before, the extraordinary fatigues of the
night, the mental troubles of all kinds which I had undergone during the
past three days, rendered that sleep which I hastened to enjoy under the
tamarind trees that grew between the sea and the more wooded part of the
island, most welcome to me. My eyes closed with an unspeakable pleasure.
My drowsiness resembled the calm of an aërial voyage. The sea-breeze
passed in long gusts through my hair, after having swept over my body,
and refreshed and revivified all my limbs. The mixture of the strong
vegetable odours by which I was surrounded with the salt air of the sea,
charged, as it was, with all the mysterious exhalations of the Indian
Ocean, formed a perfume, at once so agreeable and so intoxicating, that I
was conscious of its influence even in my sleep.
I must have slept for a long time, since the sun, which was at his zenith
when I laid down, was precisely at the same point of the heavens when
I awoke, so that I had slept for four-and-twenty hours. My awakening
will never be effaced from my remembrance as long as I live, owing to
a circumstance which I recollect with sorrow and regret, and with some
degree of remorse.
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