MAKE DISCOVERY OF MANY EXCELLENT ROOTS AND FRUITS--THE RESOURCES OF THE
CORAL ISLAND GRADUALLY UNFOLDED--THE BANYAN TREE--ANOTHER TREE WHICH IS
SUPPORTED BY NATURAL PLANKS--WATER-FOWL FOUND--A VERY REMARKABLE
DISCOVERY, AND A VERY PECULIAR MURDER--WE LUXURIATE ON THE FAT OF THE
LAND.
Our examination of the little valley proved to be altogether most
satisfactory. We found in it not only similar trees to those we had
already seen in our own valley, but also one or two others of a
different species. We had also the satisfaction of discovering a
peculiar vegetable, which, Jack concluded, must certainly be that of
which he had read as being very common among the South Sea Islanders,
and which was named taro. Also we found a large supply of yams, and
another root like a potato in appearance. As these were all quite new
to us, we regarded our lot as a most fortunate one, in being thus cast
on an island which was so prolific and so well stored with all the
necessaries of life. Long afterwards we found out that this island of
ours was no better in these respects than thousands of other islands in
those seas. Indeed, many of them were much richer and more productive;
but that did not render us the less grateful for our present good
fortune. We each put one of these roots in our pocket, intending to use
them for our supper--of which more hereafter. We also saw many
beautiful birds here, and traces of some four-footed animal again.
Meanwhile the sun began to descend; so we returned to the shore and
pushed on, round the spouting rocks, into the next valley. This was
that valley of which I have spoken as running across the entire island.
It was by far the largest and most beautiful that we had yet looked
upon. Here were trees of every shape and size and hue which it is
possible to conceive of, many of which we had not seen in the other
valleys; for, the stream in this valley being larger, and the mould much
richer than in the Valley of the Wreck, it was clothed with a more
luxuriant growth of trees and plants. Some trees were dark, glossy
green; others of a rich and warm hue, contrasting well with those of a
pale, light green, which were everywhere abundant. Among these we
recognised the broad, dark heads of the bread-fruit, with its golden
fruit; the pure, silvery foliage of the candle-nut, and several species
which bore a strong resemblance to the pine; while here and there, in
groups and in single trees, rose the tall forms of the cocoa-nut palms,
spreading abroad, and waving their graceful plumes high above all the
rest, as if they were a superior race of stately giants keeping guard
over these luxuriant forests. Oh, it was a most enchanting scene! and I
thanked God for having created such delightful spots for the use of man.
Now, while we were gazing around us in silent admiration, Jack uttered
an exclamation of surprise, and pointing to an object a little to one
side of us, said:
"That's a banyan tree."
"And what's a banyan tree?" inquired Peterkin as we walked towards it.
"A very curious one, as you shall see presently," replied Jack. "It is
called the _aoa_ here, if I recollect rightly, and has a wonderful
peculiarity about it. What an enormous one it is, to be sure!"
"_It_!" repeated Peterkin. "Why, there are dozens of banyans here!
What do you mean by talking bad grammar? Is your philosophy deserting
you, Jack?"
"There is but one tree here of this kind," returned Jack, "as you will
perceive if you will examine it." And, sure enough, we did find that
what we had supposed was a forest of trees was in reality only one. Its
bark was of a light colour, and had a shining appearance, the leaves
being lance-shaped, small, and of a beautiful pea-green. But the
wonderful thing about it was that the branches, which grew out from the
stem horizontally, sent down long shoots or fibres to the ground, which,
taking root, had themselves become trees, and were covered with bark
like the tree itself. Many of these fibres had descended from the
branches at various distances, and thus supported them on natural
pillars, some of which were so large and strong that it was not easy at
first to distinguish the offspring from the parent stem. The fibres
were of all sizes and in all states of advancement, from the pillars we
have just mentioned to small cords which hung down and were about to
take root, and thin brown threads still far from the ground, which
swayed about with every motion of wind. In short, it seemed to us that,
if there were only space afforded to it, this single tree would at
length cover the whole island.
Shortly after this we came upon another remarkable tree, which, as its
peculiar formation afterwards proved extremely useful to us, merits
description. It was a splendid chestnut, but its proper name Jack did
not know. However, there were quantities of fine nuts upon it, some of
which we put in our pockets. But its stem was the most wonderful part
of it. It rose to about twelve feet without a branch, and was not of
great thickness; on the contrary, it was remarkably slender for the size
of the tree. But to make up for this, there were four or five wonderful
projections in this stem, which I cannot better describe than by asking
the reader to suppose that five planks of two inches thick and three
feet broad had been placed round the trunk of the tree, with their
_edges_ closely fixed to it, from the ground up to the branches, and
that these planks had been covered over with the bark of the tree and
incorporated with it. In short, they were just natural buttresses,
without which the stem could not have supported its heavy and umbrageous
top. We found these chestnuts to be very numerous. They grew chiefly
on the banks of the stream, and were of all sizes.
While we were examining a small tree of this kind Jack chipped a piece
off a buttress with his axe, and found the wood to be firm and easily
cut. He then struck the axe into it with all his force, and very soon
split it off close to the tree--first, however, having cut it across
transversely above and below. By this means he satisfied himself that
we could now obtain short planks, as it were all ready sawn, of any size
and thickness that we desired, which was a very great discovery indeed--
perhaps the most important we had yet made.
We now wended our way back to the coast, intending to encamp near the
beach, as we found that the mosquitoes were troublesome in the forest.
On our way we could not help admiring the birds which flew and chirped
around us. Among them we observed a pretty kind of paroquet, with a
green body, a blue head, and a red breast; also a few beautiful
turtle-doves, and several flocks of wood-pigeons. The hues of many of
these birds were extremely vivid--bright green, blue, and scarlet being
the prevailing tints. We made several attempts throughout the day to
bring down one of these, both with the bow and the sling--not for mere
sport, but to ascertain whether they were good for food. But we
invariably missed, although once or twice we were very near hitting. As
evening drew on however, a flock of pigeons flew past. I slung a stone
into the midst of them at a venture, and had the good fortune to kill
one. We were startled soon after by a loud whistling noise above our
heads, and on looking up, saw a flock of wild ducks making for the
coast. We watched these, and observing where they alighted, followed
them up until we came upon a most lovely blue lake, not more than two
hundred yards long, embosomed in verdant trees. Its placid surface,
which reflected every leaf and stem as if in a mirror, was covered with
various species of wild ducks, feeding among the sedges and broad-leaved
water-plants which floated on it, while numerous birds like water-hens
ran to and fro most busily on its margin. These all, with one accord,
flew tumultuously away the instant we made our appearance. While
walking along the margin we observed fish in the water, but of what sort
we could not tell.
Now, as we neared the shore, Jack and I said we would go a little out of
our way to see if we could procure one of those ducks; so, directing
Peterkin to go straight to the shore and kindle a fire, we separated,
promising to rejoin him speedily. But we did not find the ducks,
although we made a diligent search for half-an-hour. We were about to
retrace our steps when we were arrested by one of the strangest sights
that we had yet beheld.
Just in front of us, at the distance of about ten yards, grew a superb
tree, which certainly was the largest we had yet seen on the island.
Its trunk was at least five feet in diameter, with a smooth, grey bark;
above this the spreading branches were clothed with light-green leaves,
amid which were clusters of bright-yellow fruit, so numerous as to weigh
down the boughs with their great weight. This fruit seemed to be of the
plum species, of an oblong form, and a good deal larger than the magnum
bonum plum. The ground at the foot of this tree was thickly strewn with
the fallen fruit, in the midst of which lay sleeping, in every possible
attitude, at least twenty hogs of all ages and sizes, apparently quite
surfeited with a recent banquet.
Jack and I could scarce restrain our laughter as we gazed at these
coarse, fat, ill-looking animals while they lay groaning and snoring
heavily amid the remains of their supper.
"Now, Ralph," said Jack in a low whisper, "put a stone in your sling--a
good big one--and let fly at that fat fellow with his back toward you.
I'll try to put an arrow into yon little pig."
"Don't you think we had better put them up first?" I whispered. "It
seems cruel to kill them while asleep."
"If I wanted _sport_, Ralph, I would certainly set them up; but as we
only want _pork_, we'll let them lie. Besides, we're not sure of
killing them; so, fire away."
Thus admonished, I slung my stone with so good aim that it went bang
against the hog's flank as if against the head of a drum; but it had no
other effect than that of causing the animal to start to its feet, with
a frightful yell of surprise, and scamper away. At the same instant
Jack's bow twanged, and the arrow pinned the little pig to the ground by
the ear.
"I've missed, after all!" cried Jack, darting forward with uplifted axe;
while the little pig uttered a loud squeal, tore the arrow from the
ground, and ran away with it, along with the whole drove, into the
bushes and disappeared, though we heard them screaming long afterwards
in the distance.
"That's very provoking, now," said Jack, rubbing the point of his nose.
"Very," I replied, stroking my chin.
"Well, we must make haste and rejoin Peterkin," said Jack; "it's getting
late." And without further remark, we threaded our way quickly through
the woods towards the shore.
When we reached it we found wood laid out, the fire lighted and
beginning to kindle up, with other signs of preparation for our
encampment; but Peterkin was nowhere to be found. We wondered very much
at this; but Jack suggested that he might have gone to fetch water, so
he gave a shout to let him know that we had arrived, and sat down upon a
rock, while I threw off my jacket and seized the axe, intending to split
up one or two billets of wood. But I had scarce moved from the spot
when, in the distance, we heard a most appalling shriek, which was
followed up by a chorus of yells from the hogs, and a loud hurrah.
"I do believe," said I, "that Peterkin has met with the hogs."
"When Greek meets Greek," said Jack, soliloquising, "then comes the tug
of--"
"Hurrah!" shouted Peterkin in the distance.
We turned hastily towards the direction whence the sound came, and soon
descried Peterkin walking along the beach towards us with a little pig
transfixed on the end of his long spear!
"Well done, my boy!" exclaimed Jack, slapping him on the shoulder when
he came up. "You're the best shot amongst us."
"Look here, Jack!" cried Peterkin as he disengaged the animal from his
spear. "Do you recognise that hole?" said he, pointing to the pig's
ear; "and are you familiar with this arrow, eh?"
"Well, I declare!" said Jack.
"Of course you do," interrupted Peterkin; "but, pray, restrain your
declarations at this time, and let's have supper--for I'm uncommonly
hungry, I can tell you. And it's no joke to charge a whole herd of
swine with their great-grandmother bristling like a giant porcupine, at
the head of them!"
We now set about preparing supper; and, truly, a good display of viands
we made when all was laid out on a flat rock in the light of the blazing
fire. There was, first of all, the little pig; then there were the
taro-root, and the yam, and the potato, and six plums; and lastly, the
wood-pigeon. To these Peterkin added a bit of sugar-cane, which he had
cut from a little patch of that plant which he had found not long after
separating from us; "and," said he, "the patch was somewhat in a square
form, which convinces me it must have been planted by man."
"Very likely," replied Jack. "From all we have seen, I'm inclined to
think that some of the savages must have dwelt here long ago."
We found no small difficulty in making up our minds how we were to cook
the pig. None of us had ever cut up one before, and we did not know
exactly how to begin; besides, we had nothing but the axe to do it with,
our knife having been forgotten. At last Jack started up and said:
"Don't let us waste more time talking about it, boys.--Hold it up,
Peterkin. There, lay the hind leg on this block of wood--so;" and he
cut it off; with a large portion of the haunch, at a single blow of the
axe. "Now the other--that's it." And having thus cut off the two hind
legs, he made several deep gashes in them, thrust a sharp-pointed stick
through each, and stuck them up before the blaze to roast. The
wood-pigeon was then split open, quite flat, washed clean in salt water,
and treated in a similar manner. While these were cooking we scraped a
hole in the sand and ashes under the fire, into which we put our
vegetables and covered them up.
The taro-root was of an oval shape, about ten inches long and four or
five thick. It was of a mottled-grey colour, and had a thick rind. We
found it somewhat like an Irish potato, and exceedingly good. The yam
was roundish, and had a rough brown skin. It was very sweet and well
flavoured. The potato, we were surprised to find, was quite sweet and
exceedingly palatable, as also were the plums--and, indeed, the pork and
pigeon too--when we came to taste them. Altogether, this was decidedly
the most luxurious supper we had enjoyed for many a day. Jack said it
was out-of-sight better than we ever got on board ship; and Peterkin
said he feared that if we should remain long on the island he would
infallibly become a glutton or an epicure, whereat Jack remarked that he
need not fear that, for he was both already! And so, having eaten our
fill, not forgetting to finish off with a plum, we laid ourselves
comfortably down to sleep, upon a couch of branches, under the
overhanging ledge of a coral rock.