The Wild Ass--Difficulty in breaking it--The
Heath Fowl’s Nest
We were scarcely up one morning, and had just got to work in putting
the last hand to our winding staircase, when we heard at a distance
two strange kinds of voices, that resembled the howlings of wild
beasts mixed with hissings and sounds of some creature at its last
gasp; and I was not without uneasiness: our dogs too pricked up their
ears, and seemed to whet their teeth for a sanguinary combat with a
dangerous enemy.
From their looks we judged it prudent to put ourselves in a state of
defence; we loaded our guns and pistols, placed them together within
our castle in the tree, and repaired to repel vigorously any hostile
attack from that quarter. The howlings having ceased an instant, I
descended from our citadel, well armed, and put on our two faithful
guardians their spiked collars and side-guards; I assembled our
cattle about the tree to have them in sight, and I then re-ascended
to look around for the enemy’s approach.
At this instant the howlings were renewed, and almost close to us.
Fritz got as near the spot as he could, listened attentively, and
with eager looks, then threw down his gun, and burst into a loud
laughter, exclaiming, “Father, it is our ass! the deserter comes back
to us, chanting the hymn of return: listen! do you not hear his
melodious brayings in all the varieties of the gamut?” I listened,
and a fresh roar, in sounds unquestionable, raised loud peals of
laughter amongst us. Shortly after we had the satisfaction of seeing
among the trees our old friend Grizzle, moving towards us leisurely,
and stopping now and then to browse; but, to our great joy, he was
accompanied by one of his own species, of very superior beauty; and
when it was nearer, I knew it to be a fine onagra, or wild ass, which
I conceived a strong desire to possess, though at the same time aware
of the extreme difficulty there would be in taming and rendering
him subject to the use of man. Without delay I descended the ladder
with Fritz, desiring his brothers to keep still; and I consulted my
privy-counsellor on the means of surprising and taking the stranger
captive.
I got ready, as soon as possible, a long cord with a running knot,
one end of which I tied fast to the root of a tree; the noose was
kept open with a little stick slightly fixed in the opening, so as to
fall of itself on the cord being thrown round the neck of the animal,
whose efforts to escape would draw the knot closer. I also prepared a
piece of bamboo about two feet long, which I split at the bottom, and
tied fast at top, to serve as nippers. Fritz attentively examined my
contrivance, without seeing the use of it. Prompted by the impatience
of youth, he took the ball-sling, and proposed aiming at the wild ass
with it, which he said was the shortest way of proceeding. I declined
adopting this Patagonian method, fearing the attempt might fail,
and the beautiful creature avail itself of its natural velocity to
evade us beyond recovery; I therefore told him my project of catching
it in the noose, which I gave him to manage, as being nimbler and
more expert than myself. The two asses drew nearer and nearer to
us. Fritz, holding in his hand the open noose, moved softly on from
behind the tree where we were concealed, and advanced as far as the
length of the rope allowed him. The onagra started on perceiving a
human figure; it sprang some paces backward, then stopped, as if to
examine the unknown form; but as Fritz now remained quite still,
the animal resumed its composure, and continued to browse. Soon
after he approached the old ass, hoping that the confidence that
would be shown by it would raise a similar feeling in the stranger;
he held out a handful of oats mixed with salt. Our ass instantly
ran up to take its favourite food, and greedily devoured it: this
was quickly perceived by the other. It drew near, raised its head,
breathed strongly, and came up so close, that Fritz, seizing the
opportunity, succeeded in throwing the rope round its neck; but the
motion and stroke so affrighted the beast that it instantly sprang
off. It was soon checked by the cord, which, in compressing the
neck, almost stopped its breath: it could go no farther, and, after
many exhausting efforts, it sank panting for breath upon the ground.
I hastened to loosen the cord, and prevent its being strangled. I
then quickly threw our ass’s halter over its head; I fixed the nose
in my split cane, which I secured at the bottom with packthread.
Thus I succeeded in subduing the first alarm of this wild animal,
as farriers shoe a horse for the first time. I wholly removed the
noose that seemed to bring the creature into a dangerous situation;
I fastened the halter with two long ropes to two roots near us, on
the right and left, and let the animal recover itself, noticing its
actions, and devising the best way to tame it in the completest
manner.
In a few moments the onagra got up again, struck furiously with its
foot, and seemed resolved to free itself from all bonds; but the
pain of its nose, which was grasped and violently squeezed in the
bamboo, forced it to lie down again. Fritz and I now gently undid
the cords, and half led, half dragged it, between two roots closely
connected, to which we fastened it afresh, so as to give the least
scope for motion, and thus render its escape impracticable, whilst
it enabled us to approach securely, and examine the valuable capture
we had made. We also guarded against master Grizzle playing truant
again, and tied him fast with a new halter, confining its fore legs
with a rope. I then fastened it and the wild ass side by side, and
put before both plenty of good provender to solace their impatience
of captivity.
We had now the additional occupation of training the onagra for our
service or our pleasure, as might turn out to be most practicable:
my boys exulted in the idea of riding it, and we repeatedly
congratulated each other on the good fortune which had thus resulted
from the flight of our ass.
During the training of the onagra, which we named _Lightfoot_, a
triple brood of our hens had given us a crowd of little feathered
beings; forty of these at least were chirping and hopping about us,
to the great satisfaction of my wife, whose zealous care of them
sometimes made me smile. Some of these we kept near us, while others
were sent in small colonies to feed and breed in the desert, where we
could find them as they were wanted for our use.
This increase of our poultry reminded us of an undertaking we had
long thought of, and was not in prudence to be deferred any longer;
this was the building between the roots of our great tree covered
sheds for all our bipeds and quadrupeds. The rainy season, which is
the winter of these countries, was drawing near; and to avoid losing
most of our stock, it was requisite to shelter it.
We began by forming a kind of roof above the arched roots of our
tree, and employed bamboo canes for the purpose; the longest and
strongest supported the roofing in the place of columns, the smaller
more closely united and composed the roof itself. I filled up the
interstices with moss and clay, and I spread over the whole a thick
coat of tar. By these means I formed a compact and solid covering,
capable of bearing pressure. I then made a railing round it, which
gave the appearance of a balcony, under which, between the roots,
were various stalls, sheltered from rain and sun, that could be
easily shut and separated from each other by means of planks nailed
upon the roots: part of them were calculated to serve as a stable and
yard, part as an eating-house, a store-room, etc., and as a hay-loft,
to keep our hay and provisions dry in. This work was soon completed;
but afterwards it was necessary to fill these places with stores of
every kind for our supply throughout the wet season. In this task we
engaged diligently, and went daily here and there with our cart to
collect everything useful, and that might give us employment when the
weather prevented our going far.
One evening, on our return from digging up roots, as our cart,
loaded with bags, drawn by the buffalo, ass, and cow, was gently
rolling along, seeing still a vacant place in the vehicle, I advised
my wife to go home with the two youngest boys, whilst I went round
by the wood of oaks with Ernest and Fritz, to gather as many sweet
acorns as we could find room for. We had still some empty sacks.
Ernest was accompanied by his monkey, who seldom left him; and
Fritz, horsemanlike, was on the onagra, which he had appropriated to
himself, inasmuch as he had helped to take and tame it, and indeed
because he knew how to manage it better than his brothers. Ernest
was too lazy, and preferred walking at ease with the monkey on his
shoulder, and the more so because it spared him the trouble of
gathering fruit.
When we reached the oaks, Lightfoot was tied to a bush, and we
set actively to work to gather the acorns that had dropped from
the trees. While all were busily employed, the monkey quitted its
master’s shoulder, and skipped unperceived into an adjoining bush. It
had been there some time, when we heard on that side loud cries of
birds and flapping of wings, and this assured us a sharp conflict was
going on betwixt master Knips and the inhabitants of the bushes. I
dispatched Ernest to reconnoitre. He went stoutly towards the place,
and in an instant we heard him exclaim, “Come quickly, father! A fine
heath-fowl’s nest, full of eggs.”
Fritz ran up directly, and in a few moments brought out alive the
male and female heath-fowl, both very beautiful. I was rejoiced at
this discovery, and helped my son to prevent their escape, by tying
their wings and feet, and hold them while he returned to the bush for
the eggs. And now Ernest came forward, driving the monkey before him,
and carrying his hat with the utmost care. He had stuck his girdle
full of narrow sharp-pointed leaves, in shape like a knife-blade,
which reminded me of the production named sword-grass; but I did not
pay much attention, as I was too busily engaged in our egg-hunt. On
coming up to me he uncovered his hat, and gave it me in a transport
of joy, crying out, “Here, father, are some heath-fowl’s eggs. I
found them in a nest so well concealed under these long leaves,
that I should not have observed them had not the hen, in defending
herself against the monkey, scattered them about. I am going to
take them home, they will please my mother; and these leaves will
amuse Francis, for they are like swords, and he will like them for
a plaything.” It was now time to think of moving homeward: my two
sons filled the bags with acorns, and put them on Lightfoot. Fritz
mounted, Ernest carried the eggs, I took charge of the hen, and we
proceeded to Falcon’s Stream, followed by our train-waggon. When
arrived, our first care was to examine the eggs: the female bird
was too frightened and wild to sit upon them; fortunately we had a
hen that was hatching: her eggs were immediately removed, and the
new ones put in their place: the female heath-fowl was put into
the parrot’s cage, and hung up in the room, to accustom it to our
society. In less than three days all the chickens were hatched; they
kept close to their foster-mother, and ate greedily a mixture of
sweet acorns bruised in milk, such as we gave our tame poultry. As
they grew up I plucked out the large feathers of their wings, lest
they should naturally take flight; but they and their real parent
gradually became so domesticated, that they daily accompanied our
feathered stock in search of food, and regularly came back at night
to the roost I had prepared for them, and in which this little new
colony of feathered beings seemed to delight.