Return of the Rainy Season--A New
Want--The Cajack
The rainy season was now rapidly approaching, and we were soon
obliged to give up our excursions. The winds and the rain commenced;
the sky that had so long been clear became dark with storm-clouds;
terrible tempests announced the approach of winter; and we closed the
door of our grotto, happy in having such a comfortable shelter.
The turning-wheel was continually in motion. We improved the quality
of our fabrications more and more, and we manufactured utensils that
at the outset we had despaired of ever possessing.
We had preserved the shells of the ostrich-eggs, and having divided
them by means of a string steeped in vinegar, we converted the halves
into elegant vases. I turned some wooden pedestals on which they were
placed, and we thus obtained drinking-cups and vases for flowers in
summer.
But these labours were much more interesting to me than to my young
family, and I feared that the inactivity to which I saw them reduced
would render them indolent. Ernest found occupation enough in his
books; but his brothers never entered the library unless when driven
by necessity. I felt the urgency of providing some active occupation
for them, and one more to their taste than literature; but I could
not think of anything, when Fritz came to my assistance.
“We have,” said he, “in the person of our ostrich, a splendid
post-horse, with which to travel the highways of our kingdom; we have
carts to transport our provisions; a pinnace, and a canoe, which are
riding majestically at anchor in Safety Bay; but one thing is yet
wanting: we have need of an equipage that will glide over the surface
of the water, as the ostrich does over the sand. I have read that
the Greenlanders have a sort of vessel which they call ‘cajack,’ and
which I must have. Why cannot we construct one? We have constructed a
canoe--why should we, civilized Europeans, not succeed in that which
barbarous savages have attempted?”
I joyfully received the proposition of my son. The cajack, the only
vessel of the Greenlander, is a sort of canoe in the form of a shell;
and a piece of walrus-skin, with three or four strips of whalebone,
are almost the only requisites for its construction. It is extremely
light, and the navigator who has glided in it over the surface of the
wave can easily carry it on his shoulder when he has arrived at land.
The strips of whalebone, bamboo-cane, and Spanish rushes, with some
sea-dog skin, were the materials that we employed in making our
cajack. Two arched strips of whalebone fastened at each end, and
separated in the middle by a piece of bamboo fixed transversely
across, formed the two sides of our canoe; other pieces of whalebone,
woven in with rushes and moss, well covered with pitch, formed the
skeleton.
When the skeleton was finished, and the interior covered with a coat
of gum and moss, we commenced the construction of an envelope. For
this I took the two entire skins of sea-calves, fastened one at each
end of the canoe, and then drew them down under it, where they were
strongly sewed together, and covered with a gum elastic coat, to
render them impervious to water. I also cut out oars of bamboo, and
fastened bladders to one end, so that they might be useful in case of
accident. I also constructed, in the bow, a place to receive a sail,
in case we should decide, at a future period, to put one there.
There was yet an important thing wanting in the completion of our
Greenland boat: it was the equipment of him who was to manage it. I
had often heard of a sort of apparel well known to those who dwell
near the sea, and which consisted in enveloping a person in an
airtight dress, lighter than the volume of liquid his body displaced.
I described this apparel to my sons, narrated to them how the head
of the swimmer was covered with a hood, furnished with a pipe
intended to let in air when it was necessary to breathe under water.
My description of the costume and the air-chimney fairly turned
the boys’ heads, and they would not rest, night or day, until they
persuaded me to ask their mother to construct such a suit for them.
My good Elizabeth, to whom our desires were as laws, kindly undertook
the work; and so nimbly did her needle ply, that in a few days she
had made a complete swimming-costume for Fritz.
A jacket of the skin of the whale’s entrails, hermetically sealed and
sewed round the borders, so that the air could not possibly escape,
was furnished with a flexible pipe, closed with a valve, so that it
could be inflated or exhausted at the pleasure of its wearer.
The winter had glided insensibly away: reading, the study of
languages, and other literary pursuits had been mingled with our
domestic avocations, and helped to render the gloomy days we passed
in the grotto more pleasant and agreeable. But our emancipation
from the grotto was approaching: the wind calmed, the sea resumed
its wonted placidity, the grass sprang up under our feet, and we
revisited Falcon’s Nest, with its giant trees and its rich harvest of
springing grain.
The swimming-costume was the last thing that we had made, and Fritz
was anxious to make a trial of it; consequently, one fine afternoon,
dinner over, he put on his jacket, which was drawn close round his
neck; then his hood, with its pipe for air, was fitted to the jacket,
and two pieces of talc inserted in such a manner as to enable him to
see.
Our first movement, on seeing him thus accoutred, was to burst into a
fit of laughter; but Fritz plunged gravely into the water, and struck
out for Shark Island. We followed him in the canoe, and arrived about
the same time. We unfastened his hood, and found that not a particle
of water had penetrated it; every one was rejoiced at the success of
the experiment, and we all persuaded our kind mother to make us one
each.
We then set off to explore the island, and endeavour to discover what
had become of the colony we had planted there. Our first visit was to
the antelopes. They fled at our approach; but we saw with pleasure
that they had devoured all the provisions we had provided them
with. We strewed some rushes in their little hut, for a litter; and
after renewing the stock of provisions, left the spot, so that the
timid animals could return. My sons and I wandered over the island,
gathering pieces of coral and beautiful shells to adorn our museum.
A second excursion to Shark Island gave us leisure to examine the
different plantations we had made: they had succeeded admirably, and
we found several young trees already some feet above the ground.
Our rabbits had also prospered, and the family had increased to an
enormous extent.
We made, too, a short excursion to Whale Island; our plantations
here had also succeeded--all was prosperity around us. Our maritime
possessions and those on terra firma afforded a most agreeable
spectacle to the eyes of the proprietors. Abundance, richness, and a
luxuriant vegetation gave promise of an excellent harvest.
One day, when I was occupied by my domestic cares in the interior of
the grotto, three of my sons disappeared without saying anything;
they carried with them their arms, provisions, and a number
of rat-traps. The latter easily explained the secret of their
expedition; they had gone for rat-skins in order to make some new
hats. I wished them good luck, and thought nothing more of the matter.
Ernest, always fond of home, had remained reading in the library:
my wife was occupied in the kitchen; and I resolved to imitate my
sons, and attempt an excursion alone. I had need of some large blocks
of wood with which to grind the grain we had gathered; but I would
not cut down one of the trees around our habitation for fear of
disfiguring our residence. I went to the stable for a horse; but all
except the buffalo had disappeared, and I was obliged to be content
with him. I soon fastened him to the sledge, and we set off in
company in the direction of the Jackal’s River. I took with me Folb
and Braun; the faithful Billy remained with Ernest, and Turk had gone
off in the morning with his young masters.
My intention in choosing the river road was that in passing I might
take a look at our plantations of manioc and potatoes which extended
along its bank. I had not seen this land, which we had prepared
with a great deal of trouble, for four months prior, and I expected
to find an abundant harvest preparing for us. Judge, then, of my
surprise, on approaching, to find the whole plantation a scene of
ruin: the roots that had just begun to sprout were all trodden
under foot, or scattered over the ground--in a word, it was a scene
of utter desolation. I thought at first that perhaps my sons had
gathered the harvest; but the prints in the moist earth soon revealed
the authors of this devastation: it had been done either by the wild
pigs, or else by the family of our old sow.
My brave companions, Folb and Braun, had gone off in search of the
despoilers; and they soon returned, driving before them a whole herd
of pigs, at the head of which trotted our old sow, grunting most
melodiously. I was so irritated at the unlucky animals, that almost
instinctively I raised my gun, and by a single shot brought down two
young porkers. The others took to flight, and the dogs would have
pursued them, but I called them back, and, cutting off the heads of
the two pigs, gave them to them. I then placed the bodies on the
sledge, and having marked with a hatchet the trees I had chosen,
so that I should know them again, I set off for Felsenheim, with a
saddened heart at the devastation I had witnessed.