New Fishery--New Experiments--New
Discoveries, and House
The enterprise of our dwelling went on, sometimes as a principal,
sometimes as an intermediate occupation, according to the greater or
less importance of other concerns; but though we advanced thus with
moderate rapidity, the progress was such as to afford the hope of our
being settled within it by the time of the rainy season.
From the moment I discovered gypsum to be the basis of the crystal
salt in our grotto, I foresaw some great advantages I should derive
from it; but to avoid enlarging the dimensions of our house by
digging further, I tried to find a place in the continuation of the
rock, which I might be able to blow up. I had soon the good fortune
to meet with a narrow slip between the projections of the rock, which
I could easily, by the means I proposed, convert into a passage that
should terminate in our work-room. I found also on the ground a
quantity of fragments of gypsum, and removed a great number of them
to the kitchen, where we did not fail to bake a few of the pieces at
a time when we made a fire for cooking, which, thus calcined, rubbed
into a powder when cold; we obtained a considerable quantity of it,
which I put carefully into casks for use when the time should come
for finishing the interior of our dwelling. My notion was to form the
walls, for separating the apartments, of the squares of stone I had
already provided, and to unite them together with a cement of this
new ingredient, which would be the means, both of sparing the timber,
and increasing the beauty and solidity of the work.
One day as Jack and I were walking near the mouth of Jackal’s
River, we perceived immense quantities of a large fish moving
slowly towards the banks. As they came nearer, I distinguished the
largest to resemble sturgeons, a fish found in higher latitudes,
while the smallest I pronounced to be salmon. Jack now strutted
about in ecstasies. “What say you now, father?” said he; “this is
nothing like your little paltry fry! A single fish of this troop
would fill a tub!”--“No doubt,” answered I; and with great gravity I
added,--“Pr’ythee, Jack, step into the river, and fling them to me
one by one, that I may take them home to salt and dry.”
He looked at me for a moment with a sort of vacant doubt if I could
possibly be in earnest: then seizing suddenly a new idea--“Wait a
moment, father,” cried he, “and I will do so”: and he sprang off
like lightning towards the cavern, from whence he soon returned
loaded with a bow and arrows, the bladders of the sea-dogs, and a
ball of string, to catch, as he assured me, every one of the fishes.
I looked on with interest and curiosity to mark what was next to
happen, while the animation of his countenance, the promptitude and
boyish gracefulness of his motions, and the firm determination of his
manner, afforded me the highest amusement. He tied the bladders round
at certain distances with a long piece of string, to the end of which
he fastened an arrow and a small iron hook; he placed the large ball
of string in a hole in the ground at a sufficient distance from the
water’s edge, and then he shot off an arrow, which the next instant
stuck in one of the largest fishes. My young sportsman uttered a
shout of joy. At the same moment Fritz joined us, and witnessed this
unexpected feat without the least symptom of jealousy. “Well done,
brother Jack,” cried he; “but let me, too, have my turn.”--Saying
this, he ran back and fetched the harpoon and the windlass, and
returned to us accompanied by Ernest. We were well pleased with
their opportune arrival, for the salmon Jack had pierced struggled
so fiercely, that all our endeavours to hold the string were
insufficient, and we dreaded at every throw to see it break, and the
animal make good its escape. By degrees, however, its strength was
exhausted, and, aided by Fritz and Ernest, we succeeded in drawing it
to a bank, where I put an end to its existence.
This fortunate beginning of a plan for a fishery inspired us all with
hope and emulation. Fritz eagerly seized his harpoon and windlass;
I, for my part, like Neptune, wielded a trident; Ernest prepared
the large fishing-rod; and Jack his arrow, with the same apparatus
as before, not forgetting the bladders, which were so effectual
in preventing the fish from sinking when struck. We were now more
than ever sensible of our loss in the destruction of the tub-boat,
with which we could have pursued the creatures in the water, and
have been spared much pains and difficulty; but, on the other hand,
such numbers of fishes presented themselves at the mouth of the
river, that we had only to choose among them. Jack’s arrow, after
missing twice, struck the third time a large sturgeon, which was so
untractable, that we had great difficulty in securing him. I too had
caught two of the same fish, and had been obliged to go up to the
middle in the water to manage my booty. Ernest, with his rod and
line and a hook, had also taken two smaller ones. Fritz, with his
harpoon, had struck a sturgeon at least eight feet in length, and
the skill and strength of our whole company were found necessary to
conduct him safe to shore, where we harnessed the buffalo to him with
strong cords to draw him to Tent House.
When these various concerns were complete, we began to meditate a
plan for constructing a small boat as a substitute for the tub-raft,
to come close in to shore. I had a great desire to make it, as the
savages do, of the rind of a tree; but the difficulty was to fix
on one of sufficient bulk for my purpose; for though many were to
be found in our vicinity, yet each was on some account or other of
too much value to be spared. We therefore resolved to make a little
excursion in search of a tree of capacious dimensions, and in a
situation where it was not likely to yield us fruit, to refresh us
with its shade, or to adorn the landscape round our dwelling.
We arrived at Falcon’s Stream, where we intended to pass the
night. We visited the ground my wife had so plentifully sowed with
grain, which had sprung up with an almost incredible rapidity and
luxuriance, and was now nearly ready for reaping. We cut down what
was fairly ripe, bound it together in bundles, and conveyed it to a
place where it would be secure from the attacks of more expert grain
consumers than ourselves, of which thousands hovered round the booty.
We reaped barley, wheat, rye, oats, pease, millet, lentils--only
a small quantity of each, it is true, but sufficient to enable us
to sow again plentifully at the proper season. The plant that had
yielded the most was maize, a proof that it best loved the soil. It
had already shown itself in abundance in our garden at Tent House;
but here there was a surface of land, the size of an ordinary field,
entirely covered with its splendid golden ears, which still more
than the other plants attracted the voracity of the feathered race.
The moment we drew near, a dozen at least of large bustards sprang up
with a loud rustling noise, which awakened the attention of the dogs;
they plunged into the thickest parts, and routed numerous flocks of
birds of all kinds and sizes, who took hastily to flight. Among the
fugitives were some quails, who escaped by running; and lastly some
kangaroos, whose prodigious leaps enabled them to elude the pursuit
of the dogs.
We were so overcome by the surprise such an assemblage of living
creatures occasioned, as to forget the resource we had in our guns;
we stood as it were stupid with amazements during the first moments,
and before we came to ourselves, the prey was beyond our reach, and
for the most part out of sight. Fritz was the first to perceive and
to feel with indignation the silly part we had been playing, and to
consider in what way we could repair the mischief. Without further
loss of time, he took the bandage from his eagle’s eyes (for the bird
always accompanied him perched upon his game-bag), and showed him
with his hand the bustards still flying, and at no great distance.
The eagle took a rapid flight. Fritz jumped like lightning on the
back of his onagra, and galloped over everything that intervened, in
the direction the bird had taken, and we soon lost sight of him.
We now beheld a spectacle which in the highest degree excited our
curiosity and interest: the eagle had soon his prey in view; he
mounted above one of the bustards in a direct line, without losing
sight of it for an instant, and then darted suddenly down; the
bustards flew about in utter confusion, now seeking shelter in the
bushes, then crossing each other in every direction, in the attempt
to evade the common enemy; but the eagle remained steady in pursuit
of the bird he had fixed upon for his prey, and disregarded all the
rest: he alighted on the unlucky bustard, fixed his claws and his
beak in its back, till Fritz, arriving full gallop, got down from the
onagra, replaced the bandage on the eagle’s eyes, seated him once
more upon the game-bag, and having relieved the poor bustard from his
persecutor, he shouted to us to come and witness his triumph. We ran
speedily to the place.
At the conclusion of this adventure, we hastened forward to Falcon’s
Stream, and dressed the wounds of the bustard. We perceived with
pleasure that it was a male, and foresaw the advantage of giving him
for a companion to our solitary female of the same species, which was
completely tamed. I threw a few more bundles of maize into the cart,
and without further delay we arrived at our tree.
The rest of the day was employed in picking the grains of the
different sorts of corn from the stalks; we put what we wished to
keep for sowing into some gourd-shells, and the Turkey wheat was
laid carefully aside in sheaves till we should have time to beat and
separate it. Fritz observed that we should also want to grind it; and
I reminded him of the hand-mill we had secured from our departed ally
the wrecked vessel.
_Fritz._--But, father, the hand-mill is so small, and so subject to
be put out of order:--why should we not contrive a water-mill, as
they do in Europe? We have surely rapid streams of water in abundance.
_Father._--This is true; but such a mechanism is more difficult than
you imagine. The wheel alone, I conceive, would be an undertaking far
beyond our strength or our capacity. I am, however, well pleased with
the activity and zeal which prompted your idea; and we will hereafter
consider whether it may be worth while to bestow upon it further
attention. We have abundance of time before us, for we shall not
want a water-mill till our harvests are such as to produce plentiful
crops of corn. In the meantime, let us be thinking of our proposed
excursion for to-morrow; for we should set out at least by sunrise.
We began our preparations accordingly. My wife chose some hens and
two fine cocks, with the intention of taking them with us, and
leaving them at large to produce a colony of their species at a
considerable distance from our dwelling-places. I, with the same
view, visited our beasts, and selected four young pigs, four sheep,
two kids, and one male of each species; our numbers having so much
increased that we could well afford to spare these individuals for
the experiment. If we succeeded in thus accustoming them to the
natural temperature and productions of our island, we should have
eased ourselves of the burden of their support, and should always be
able to find them at pleasure.
We took this time a new direction, which was straight forward between
the rocks and the shore, that we might make ourselves acquainted with
everything contained in the island we seemed destined for ever to
inhabit. We found, as usual, much difficulty in pushing through the
tall tough grass, and alternately through the thick prickly bushes
which everywhere obtruded themselves. We were often obliged to turn
aside, while I cut a passage with my hatchet: but these accidents
seldom failed to reward my toil by the discovery of different small
additions to our general comfort; among others, some roots of trees
curved by nature to serve both for saddles and yokes for our beasts
of burden. I took care to secure several, and put them in the cart.
In about an hour we found ourselves at the extremity of the wood,
and a most singular phenomenon presented itself to our view: a
small plain, or rather a grove of low bushes, to appearance almost
covered with flakes of snow, lay extended before us. Suddenly a
suspicion crossed my mind, and was soon confirmed by Fritz, who
had darted forward on his onagra, and now returned with one hand
filled with tufts of a most excellent species of cotton, so that
the whole surface of low bushes was in reality a plantation of that
valuable article. The pods had burst from ripeness, and the winds
had scattered around their flaky contents; the ground was strewed
with them, they had gathered in tufts on the bushes, and they floated
gently in the air.
The joy of this discovery was almost too great for utterance. We
collected as much cotton as our bags would hold, and my wife filled
her pockets with the seed, to raise it in our garden at Tent House.
It was now time to proceed: and we took a direction towards a point
of land which skirted the wood of gourds, and being high, commanded
a view of the adjacent country. I conceived a wish to remove our
establishment to the vicinity of the cotton plantation and the
gourd wood, which furnished so many of the utensils for daily use
throughout the family. I pleased myself in idea, with the view of
the different colonies of animals I had imagined, both winged and
quadruped; and in this elevation of my fancy, I even thought it might
be practicable to erect a sort of farmhouse on the soil, which we
might visit occasionally, and be welcomed by the agreeable sounds
of the cackling of our feathered subjects, which would so forcibly
remind us of the customs of our forsaken but ever-cherished country.
We accordingly soon reached the high ground, which I found in all
respects favourable to my design. My plan for a building was
approved by all, and we lost no time in pitching our tent, and
forming temporary accommodations for cooking our victuals. When we
had refreshed ourselves with a meal, I, for my part, resolved to look
about in all directions, that I might completely understand what
we should have to depend upon in this place, in point of safety,
salubrity, and general accommodation. I had also to find a tree that
would suit for the proposed construction of a boat; and lastly, to
meet, if possible, with a group of trees, at such fit distances from
each other as would assist me in my plan of erecting a farmhouse. I
was fortunate enough in no long time to find in this last respect
exactly what I wanted, and quite near to the spot we on many accounts
had felt to be so enviable. I returned to my companions, whom I found
busily employed in preparing excellent beds of the cotton, upon
which, at an earlier hour than usual, we all retired to rest.