Rainy day. Reflections concerning climate, season of the year, tides,
etc. Plant several varieties of my seeds. Make a pocket compass, and
prepare for my exploration of the island.
"Man proposes, but God disposes." This was what I thought when I woke
in the morning and looked out upon a foggy, drizzling day; not very
much wind, but a regular Scotch mist, and with every look of settling
into a real downright rain. I could not well complain, for I had been
blessed with pleasant weather since my arrival, and it was but natural
that all days should not be as pleasant; and the fast-approaching
appearance of rain delighted me in another sense, for I was not at all
sure about my supply of fresh water, and I was not sorry to see that
the island was visited with rain, which I foresaw that in the future
I could utilize should all other methods fail. My nautical experience
had been correct; in less than an hour the rain fell freely, and the
wind got up quite strong from the northward and eastward. I saw that I
must put aside all idea of exploring my island for this day, and I was
not sorry, as I had several things that I desired to complete first,
and my great fear of not being able to obtain plenty of water of a good
quality was fast being dissipated. I got to my fire and started it
briskly, so that it would not be disturbed by the rain, and for more
security lighted a small one inside my hut under cover, so as to run no
risks at all. Although I felt confident that I had the means at present
of starting a new fire at any time, I was morbid on this subject, and
could not prevail upon myself to allow any of the three flames to be
extinguished, namely, the lamps, the regular fire, and the small one in
my hut, so fearful was I about it. Up to the present time fire was not
only fire to me, but it was water. Once secure concerning the latter I
felt that I could allow my fires to go out with better faith. I found
during this day my hut a great comfort, and blessed my stars that I
had completed it so luckily before this storm commenced. The rain was
not cold, being from the direction of the equator; and I therefore,
throughout the day, moved about in it in my flannel shirt and drawers,
with my broad-brimmed hat and shoes and stockings, leaving my other
clothing dry in the hut. I was pleased to observe that the thatching
was a perfect success, and the interior as dry and nice as possible.
My first task was to go and get the other half of the sea-oyster
shell that I had placed under my shark's livers and bring it near the
house. I had no fears of the rain interfering with the former, for I
knew that, although exposed, the rain would not mix with the oil, but
would, if anything, purify it, and that I could easily skim off every
particle with a clam-shell when the weather became again clear. Having
got my sea-oyster shell, which would hold some gallons, placed under
one of the dripping eaves of my hut, I sat down to breakfast, which I
made very pleasantly of turtle steaks and eggs. After breakfast I drew
forth from my trousers pocket my precious piece of tobacco, and looked
with grief at its diminished proportions, but, urged on by solitude
and the rain, I could not resist filling my pipe and taking a good
long smoke. Whilst smoking, the following thoughts of what I had seen,
and what I might expect ran through my head, and I repeated them to
myself to fix them in my memory, so that they might serve me in the
future. In the first place I calculated that this day, the thirteenth
of November, must in this part of the world represent the thirteenth
of May in the northern hemisphere, and that therefore I was in the
very spring-time of the year, and at a proper season to plant some of
my seeds and note the result. Although I did not know how far south I
was, still I knew within a degree or so by the reckoning that I had on
board of the "Good Luck." I felt assured that I was somewhere between
the fortieth and forty-fifth parallel of latitude, and that the climate
must therefore be somewhat like that of countries situated between the
same parallels of north latitude, like that of England, France, or the
New England States of America. Knowing this I had a sort of general
knowledge of what seeds would probably prosper, and also what kind of a
winter I might expect. Surrounded as I was, as I suspected, by water, I
thought that the winter ought to be milder than those of the northern
hemisphere, and for the same reason the summers milder. I remembered
that many fruits would mature in England, in latitude 52° north, that
would not grow in the open air in New England in only 42° north. In
imagination I gave my island a climate even milder than England, first
on account of its being nearer the equator, and next on account of its,
as I supposed, small extent, completely surrounded by water. I was also
led to this belief by the balmy, spring-like, and warm air of the days
I had already passed upon the island, and the advancement in vegetation
that I saw upon all sides of me; the latter completely satisfying me
that the springs must be very early, and that the winters could not
be very severe. I had also noticed that the rise and fall of the tide
was considerable; I should say at a venture at least ten feet. I had
no doubt but what I could wade almost across the gulf separating me
from the breakwater at mean low tide, at any rate a few strokes only of
swimming would be necessary, I felt convinced. From these subjects I
passed to thinking of my lonely fate, and made up my mind to cross over
again to the breakwater this very day and examine anew the scene of my
disaster. What a miserable fate was reserved for me. Here was I only
thirty-two years of age, in the very prime of my life, cut off from
intercourse with all my fellow-men; cast upon a desert island, without
even the comforts and necessities that my predecessor in history had
given him to his hands, with nothing but the few miserable trifles that
I have enumerated; cast on shore, to care for myself, protect myself,
and live for whatever God might have in store for me. The bitter tears
ran through my fingers at the desolate picture my imagination had
conjured up. Why was I punished in this manner? what had I done that
I should be imprisoned in this solitude? But then, on the other hand,
what should prevent me from building in the future a boat or raft and
escaping from my prison, or why should I despair of some day seeing a
vessel within sight of my island that I could hail?
My greatest fear, I found in consultation with myself, was the fear
of savages; that the island was inhabited. This made me shudder with
fright; I felt that I should never rest easy till I had explored it
from end to end; I felt that I must do this, and at the very earliest
moment. I knew, too, that I ought each day to have crossed to the
breakwater and to have looked for some passing ship, but my fire and
water and weapons had taken all my time and attention. I made up my
mind to attend to this better in future, but then again my sailor's
knowledge gave me little to hope for from this source; nothing but the
accident of the ocean, or exploration, or discovery, would, I felt
confident, ever bring a vessel in this direction. This gave me the
horrors again, for my mind convinced me that I might live my lifetime
on this island without any reasonable hope of ever seeing a vessel
approach it. The very fact of its not being laid down on any chart in
so late a year as 1865 proved to me conclusively two facts,--one that
it must be quite small in extent, and the other that it was wholly and
completely, as I felt that it was, out of the course of vessels engaged
in any pursuit, and the chances of its discovery exceedingly small.
My meditations were abruptly ended by the hissing of the ashes in the
heel of my pipe, and I sadly arose and placed it carefully away, and
betook myself to my labors for the day. I knew that it must be at this
time about low water, and as the clothing I had on was already quite
wet, I started forth, without undressing, to the beach, and, armed
with my harpoon, waded in and headed for the breakwater. I found, as
I supposed, that with the exception of about fifteen or twenty yards
in the middle, which I was compelled to swim, I could wade the whole
distance. I soon arrived at the opposite side and clambered up the
rocks. I could see but little way seaward on account of the rain and
slight fog, but at my feet was the same uneasy, treacherous sea, that
had swallowed up my shipmates. I could find no sign of the boat or of
them, and I knew that whatever articles lay at the base of these rocks
would by this time either be buried deep from human eye or destroyed by
the everlasting motion of the undertow. The bottom also, to judge by
the sides of the rocks, was no doubt covered with kelp and rock-weed,
amongst which, even on land, it would be almost impossible to find
anything; how much more so at the bottom of the ocean! I gave up all
thought of ever recovering anything more from the boat, and sadly and
silently retook my way back to my hut. This trip, and looking after
my fresh water and lamps and fire and wood, took up my forenoon and
brought me to dinner, which, although lonely, I enjoyed. I took this
opportunity to also cook some spare pieces of the turtle and to gather
them together in layers, with salt between, to serve me for food in my
proposed exploration. I cooked and prepared quite a quantity, as I did
also of the boiled eggs. After dinner and the cooking and preparing of
these rations, I started forth upon a more important business. I went
to my field in the rear of the hut, and picking out one corner where
the soil seemed fair, I, by the aid of the fluke of my anchor, turned
up the soil in some twenty-five or thirty places, in a circular form,
some twenty-four inches in diameter, and carefully removed the turf.
I knew that with my tools I could not expect to plough or spade up
any portion of great extent, so I took this means. I left the sward
intact, except in these circular places, some six or eight feet apart,
which I prepared for my seeds, and sparingly from each I planted the
following: in five of them, apple seeds; in another five of them,
pear seeds; in another five, grape seeds; and in the same and other
ones, cucumbers, beans, squashes, celery, blackberries, strawberries,
tomatoes, lettuce, etc. My wheat, rye, and rice, I carefully kept on
hand, with the exception of one plat that I sowed with wheat wholly,
simply as a precaution to preserve the seed if it should mature. Having
finished this labor, I commenced upon another task, one that was to
tax my ingenuity, namely, a compass. I did not feel like undertaking
the examination of the island without this useful instrument. I first
procured some nice, strong, birch-bark, sound and well seasoned, of
which there was plenty in the grove, and by means of my sharpened nail
awl and manilla thread soon had formed a nice little box of about three
inches in diameter and two high, with a good-fitting cover to same.
By means of a piece of manilla thread held firmly by my thumb on a
nice, flat piece of bark, and the awl fastened to the other extremity,
I had no difficulty in marking out a disc that would fit within the
circumference of my box. I soon cut this out with my knife, and by
means of a straight stick and a small piece of charcoal and some
little measurement, soon had it marked off into thirty-two points;
making the north point with an arrow-head to distinguish it, and the
other cardinal points large and black. I soon had quite a respectable
compass-card before me. I then took one of the wrought nails from the
boat-planking, and, in spite of the rain, soon had it beaten out on
my anvil into a narrow ribbon, which I hardened and converted into
steel of the length of the diameter of my compass-card or disc. By
repeated poundings and drawing this ribbon over my knife from heel to
point, I magnetized it so that it would adhere to iron or steel quite
forcibly. I fastened this upon the underside of my compass-cover with
fine manilla thread near each extremity. I should have said that whilst
this ribbon was red hot, I had forced, with another nail, quite a
large hole, perhaps three-eighths of an inch in diameter, through its
centre. I broke out one of the teeth of my horn hair-comb and lashed it
firmly for an upright into the centre of my box, and over the centre
of my compass-card I cut out a hole of about an inch in diameter, and
over this fastened a little cone about the size of a woman's thimble,
only coming to a peak, instead of a round head, and about an inch in
height, also made of bark. Into this cone I forced a small piece of the
polished lip of one of my sea shells, as an agate or face upon which
my horn pivot was to rest and the disc rotate. Passing the disc into
the box and the horn pivot up through the hole in the magnet into the
inverted cup or cone containing the small portion of shell, I found
that I had a real, quick, and good compass. The card had to be balanced
by placing, with my glue, small portions of bark on its underneath
surface till it floated evenly upon its pivot, and my task was done. I
felt that with this implement I could not get lost in my explorations,
and although rude in construction, its value was as sterling as one
made of brass and with paper disc. I filled the whole box with the soft
cotton of my milkweed pods, both above and below the card, and put on
the cover so that there could be no motion to wear the pivot. I only,
of course, intended to use it in case of necessity, and I had then only
to carefully open it, remove the card and cotton, and set it back upon
its pivot, after placing it carefully on the ground and protecting it
from any sudden blast of wind. I was proud of my instrument, and felt
much more secure, in its possession, as to my ability to explore the
island successfully.
This ended my day's work, and the setting sun gave signs of a pleasant
day for the morrow. I felt pleased that I had planted my seeds during
the rain, which would give them a good start, and sat down to my supper
with a feeling that I had again overcome some of the difficulties
that surrounded me. I visited my oyster-shell outside the eaves, and
although the sky had been for an hour or two fast clearing up, I saw
that I had several gallons of pure rain water, for which I was, I
hope, duly thankful. I meditated upon the morrow. Upon my exploration
depended all my security for the future. Should I find the island
inhabited, a long farewell to all content. If uninhabited, I could,
I felt certain, take care of myself till it pleased God to remove
me from the solitude to which I was tied. I envied the old Robinson
Crusoe, to whom I likened myself, and thought, why could not I have
been as fortunate as he; if the "Good Luck" must be destroyed why
could she not have come ashore on this island where I could have saved
something from her, and, more precious yet, some of the lives of my
shipmates? How many years must I stagnate on this island? But I am
young and determined to improve my position. Have I not a book of all
the practical sciences to aid me in forcing Nature to give up her
secrets? Why should I not be able to improve my condition far beyond
that which my predecessor in history had been able to do? He had not
the education of the nineteenth century to aid him; he knew nothing
about the science of steam, railroads, steamboats, telegraphs, etc,
whilst I had a book treating of these and a thousand other subjects
of infinite interest. I could not help thinking that if I could find
iron, I could do almost anything, and why should I not be able to find
it? I knew that it was a metal like gold, disseminated throughout all
parts of the earth. By my labors as a boy in it I felt that I could,
as a mechanic, do almost anything if I could discover this ore, and
coal to smelt it. If I found water, I felt assured of the future, and I
could not but believe that my exploration would enable me to discover
that. It was impossible that so large an area as my eye could gather
in should be without it. Once found, I felt no fears for food. I felt
assured of my physical well-being, and the climate, I felt convinced,
could not be very severe in the winter months with such delightful
weather in this spring month of November. I could in time build some
kind of a boat, and reach the Society Islands to the northward of me,
or the South American coast to the eastward, or even New Zealand to the
westward. I was not without hope, and, although far from cheerful in my
dreadful solitude, I could not but think that I should be comparatively
happy and contented if I felt sure of my island being uninhabited; but
I dreaded, in my exploration about to be undertaken, to come suddenly
upon some savage village, that would destroy all my desire to still
live, and almost put me in a mood to take my own life with my own
hands.
My nerves were unstrung now all the time, and the slightest noise
caused my heart to palpitate with fear, as it had never before done in
the severest gale at sea or in face of the greatest practical dangers.
I was fast becoming a coward, and felt that I should continue to be
one till my problem was solved; then, if successful in ascertaining
the extent of the island and its freedom from savages, I felt that I
could resign myself with fortitude to the designs that Providence had
in my behalf. These thoughts brought me well into the evening, and,
commending myself to the divine care, I lay down upon my sea-weed couch
and dropped to sleep.