Make a hatchet of my iron hammer. Make matches and utensils for house.
Team of goats, chairs, table, etc. Birch-bark canoe. Arrangements for
winter.
I have said that when the Hermitage was finished the summer had
passed away. Let me describe what the weather had been, and something
concerning the climate and fruits and plants that had been coming to
maturity, whilst I was hard at work on my house.
I found the summer days often hot, but never very unpleasantly so. I
experienced the usual amount of rainy weather that it would be natural
to find in a similar latitude in the northern hemisphere. There were
days, of course, in which it was very hot, and there were other days
in which large quantities of rain fell, but upon the whole the climate
was delightful, more like that of the inland sea in southern Japan than
anything else to which I can compare it. The island was singularly
free from fogs and mists, but then I might reasonably look for these
later in the season. When the day was very sultry, I had always the
beautiful sandy basin of Stillwater Cove to bathe in. So far I had
nothing to complain of on this score, and felt confident that the
winter would be mild and short. It was about this time that I felt the
need of more tools, and especially a hatchet, which I finally concluded
to make out of my hammer, which, be it remembered, I had constructed
out of the boat's anchor. I took this hammer, and by repeated heatings
and beating with a piece of the remaining shank, I forged it into the
shape of a hatchet, still leaving the eye as it was when used for a
hammer. I then went to the place where I had been cast on shore, and
procured some clay like that from which I had made my lamp tower, and
formed some rough crucibles by burning them in hot wood fires. Into one
of these I put my hatchet-head and filled round about it with small
pieces of charcoal and slips of the skin of my goats and small pieces
of unburned, soft wood, and carefully sealed up the orifice with a
quantity of the moist clay, and cast the crucible into a hot fire; not
hot enough to fuse the iron, however, and kept it there, watching it
carefully from time to time, nearly three days, when I dragged it out
of the flames, broke open the crucible, and took out my hatchet-head,
converted into excellent steel of superior hardness and temper. I soon
procured a soft species of stone as a whetstone, and by the labor of a
few hours brought the edge to a fine degree of sharpness, and, having
fitted a handle by means of my knife, I had a splendid instrument to
aid me. No mortal ever looked upon the works of his own hands with more
admiration than did I upon my steel hatchet. Many things which I had
not before deemed possible I could now attempt. After I had made my
hatchet I commenced many improvements round about me. I made several
trips to my vegetable garden, and saw with the utmost satisfaction
that all my seeds had sprouted, and I supplied myself with all kinds
of vegetables during the whole season. I took great care to preserve
carefully a great plenty of the seeds of each species, and thought more
of that than enjoying them, but they were so plenty that I had ample
of nearly all for food. My wheat, however, I saved every kernel of for
sowing next year.
I had by this time several very tame goats tied up about the hermitage,
and I made up my mind to break a span or two of them to harness, and
for this purpose, as I could not construct wheels, I made a sled by
bending two small limbs in the shape I desired, and fastening them
by cross pieces, all of which I held together by straps of manilla
lashings and by holes burned with a hot nail from one part into the
other, into which I drove small pegs of hard, seasoned wood, and
finally turned out quite a respectable sled, about twice as large as a
common boy's sled, and the runners much wider, so as not to sink into
the soil. To this I attached my four goats, making the harness out of
the hides of those that I had killed, which I sewed together in good
shape with strong manilla twine by means of my bradawl, making real
good, strong work. The traces I made by laying up small strands of
the manilla rope, and ended by turning out four sets of breast-plate
harnesses; strong and durable, and easily adjusted.
I found very little difficulty in breaking my team into drawing this
sled, and by means of it I brought home many useful acquisitions for
my winter's use, but chiefly coal from my coal mine, which was about
two miles distant. I used to carry my sled across Rapid River, below
the falls, and then drive over my team upon a sort of rocky causeway
that I had built so that they did not have to tread very deep in the
water, and then, harnessing them up, I used to start for the mine,
and by means of the anchor-fluke, I dug out easily enough coal in a
short time to load my sled, and dragged it home to the river, whence I
transported it across in a basket of willow twigs that I had made in my
leisure moments. In this way, before winter, I had at least two tons of
coal near the door-way of the hermitage, all handy for winter use. With
this same sled and team, I gathered also a large amount of wood, which
I could now cut into proper lengths with my hatchet. I constructed of
small stones and mortar in one side of my large fire-place, a sort of
grate, with a chimney made of sections of pottery pipe manufactured
of clay from the landing place, that led up into the main chimney, in
which I could burn my coal if I wished to, or make a wood fire beside
it. I found very little difficulty in making several clumsy but useful
vessels of clay, which I baked successfully and glazed with salt; my
book of useful arts and sciences giving me an idea how to do it. My
next task was to make matches, and the information necessary for this
I also procured from my book. The wood I easily obtained by splitting
up small, thin sections of well-seasoned pine with my hatchet, and
these again I sub-divided into matches with my knife. I then caught a
quantity of fish with my harpoon, which I had no difficulty in doing
at any time, especially the small dog-shark species, and chopped up
the bones of the head with my hatchet, placing them at a distance from
my habitation. These I allowed to putrify till they were luminous with
phosphorus, which I gathered carefully in the night-time by separating
it from the putrid mass and carefully pressing it. I then procured some
turpentine from the resinous trees near to me, and made a mixture of
sulphur, phosphorus, and turpentine, which I heated, and into which
I dipped each match singly, and laid it aside to dry. I afterwards
dipped each into a melted solution of pure spruce gum, very thin, to
preserve them from the weather. I made several attempts before I was
successful, but at last I obtained the right proportions and made me
a stock of matches that worked well if they were used with care, and
if the weather was not too damp, when I was often driven to the use of
my flint and steel. For winter provisions I visited, with my sled and
team, the sweet-potato fields, and laid in a large stock, also picking
a quantity of the tobacco plant and curing it for my own use, and this
was my greatest solace in my loneliness.
I found upon the island a species of gourd, and I soon had in my home
a set of these useful utensils, which, by dividing, I also made into
bowls and saucers. I also, from Breakwater ledge, procured any number
of the large deep mussel-shells, nearly a foot in length, which were
useful as receptacles for all sorts of things.
I found no difficulty, by a treatment which I found in my book, in
preserving, by means of tannin procured from the inner bark of a
species of scrub oak with which the island abounded, all the skins
of my goats, and I soon gathered together a stock of both tanned and
untanned ones, some with the hair on and some with it removed. I hated
to attack my friends the seals, and yet it was about this time that I
made a trip across the island and killed ten of them for the purpose of
procuring their skins, which I added to my stock.
I found no difficulty, by means of my knife, in cutting out quite a
respectable pair of trousers, and a sort of hunting jacket from the
goat-skins; but the sewing of them together was a harder task. Still,
before winter set in, I was clothed in quite a nice buckskin suit,
and had, with my seal-skins and goat-skins with the hair left on, the
withal to make at any time a winter suit that would protect me from
the cold, so that I had that trouble off my mind. As for shoes, I
easily made me a pair of moccasins of the goat-skin, with the hair side
within, which were very comfortable and useful. I also from my skins
made me a much more useful and ornamental cap to replace the one of
rushes that I had worn throughout the summer.
I also made me a nice tobacco pouch, and several other useful articles
of skin, including a sort of game bag, which I carried over my shoulder
by a broad skin band; this latter was especially useful to me. I also
made from my clay several useful but rather clumsy pipe-heads, and with
a reed stem I was fitted on this score and had no more fears about
breaking my old clay one. For meat for the winter I laid in large
stocks of my dried or jerked goat's flesh, and I had little fears on
this score, as I could always procure fresh meat now, when I desired
it, for my goats had begun to propagate already. From them I already
obtained milk, in larger quantities than I had any use for, but had too
many things to think of, of more importance than to try at this time
to make cheese. I caught in the river large quantities of a species
of herring, and also a few fine salmon, which visited the river, but
only for a short time, being unable to ascend the falls. All of these I
cured by smoking, by building a hut round about them and keeping them
for a long time in the densest smoke by burning green wood underneath
them. I cured also in this way some few hams of my goats.
After having gotten these things about me, I tackled others of less
importance, perhaps, but necessary for my comfort. In one of my
excursions to the coal-mine I discovered what I felt convinced was
limestone, and upon bringing a piece home, and testing it by fire, I
found I was correct, so here I had all the lime I should ever need
for any purpose, easily procured by burning the stone and gathering up
the residue. I now commenced upon the interior of my house, and in the
first place made myself a nice hammock of four goat-skins, with the
hair inside, which I stretched from the central post of my room to one
of the window jambs. I then went to work upon a bed, and cut first with
my hatchet four uprights with forked ends, like the letter Y, from as
many limbs, about four inches in diameter and three feet high; into
these forks I placed two long poles, some two inches in diameter, and
fastened them there securely by means of manilla strands. I then braced
the ends and sides by lashing, both lengthwise and endwise, poles about
one foot from the ground, which kept the whole in shape, and although
it was not so strong as if dovetailed together by a cabinet-maker, it
answered all purposes, and when pushed up against the wall, in the
corner, was further supported upon two sides. Across this I stretched
cords of manilla, and over them I laid long, soft, pliable rushes, and
over them again seal-skins, with the hair side upward; and I had at
last a capital bed. My chairs did not give me so much trouble, for I
found two old roots of trees, that, with a little hacking off here and
there with my hatchet and a goat skin for a seat, made as easy chairs
as any body ever sat in; of course they were too heavy to be moved
about, but for all practical purposes they were perfect, and I could
rest in them with the greatest comfort and ease.
With my clay I easily baked some shallow dishes with a handle, into
which I poured my sharks' liver oil and fitted with pith wick and had
no want of light. One of these lamps I suspended from the ridgepole in
nearly the centre of the room, just clear of the upright, and two or
three feet above my head, fitted with three wicks, which, when lit at
night gave me a pleasant and abundant light. I made favorites of one
or two of my young goats, and used to allow them to occupy the house
with me, and became much attached to them, and in the evening when not
too busy, amused myself by teaching them to walk on their hind legs,
and other playful tricks which seemed for a moment to make me forget
my loneliness. I was not satisfied with what I had yet done for the
interior of my house, and I therefore went to work, and made myself a
table on the same plan as the bed, except that it was higher and much
lighter, and across this I stretched a large section of birch bark
which I stripped from a tree; this table pleased me so much that I went
to work and made a lighter one still for my ink, pens, and books, etc.,
retaining the other for eating purposes. In fact, before the winter was
ended I had four of these tables in the house, which were very handy,
and yet after all were not difficult to make. For a door, I cut several
canes and lashed them together with manilla rope strands, and hung it
by the same material, but it would not open or shut very well, and I
was forced to lift it carefully, but then I only closed and opened it
once a day, morning and night. The floor of my house troubled me more
than anything else, but finally I covered it with a coating of clay
that I brought on the sled by repeated trips to the clay field; this I
mixed with a quantity of lime and sand and put it down whilst moist,
and it formed a sort of cement, and soon became hard and firm, but it
was always dusty to a degree and not as clean as I could have wished,
but it did very well,--at least, I could think of nothing to improve it.
It was at this time, when I seemed to have gotten everything well
about me for the winter, which was sensibly approaching, for it was
now the month of May, and some of the days had been quite chilly and
unpleasant, that I was taken with the insane idea of building a boat. I
do not know for what earthly purpose I desired one, except, possibly,
I might coast along in Stillwater Cove or the margin of Perseverance
Bay and if I found anything that I needed I could transport it better
in the boat than any other way. I was well aware that I had no tools
to make a boat with, but for that very reason I was determined to
make one. I had made up my mind, if I must play the part of Robinson
Crusoe, that I would at least prove to myself, if to no one else,
that thousands of things can be accomplished by a little ingenuity
and contrivance that seem difficult upon first view. For instance, I
thought at once of several ways in which I could make a boat: one, by
hollowing out a log with my hatchet and by means of fire; another by
making a light frame of twigs and stretching skins over it; or still
another and very much the best method, by taking the bark from a birch
tree and making an Indian birch-bark canoe. This latter was the easiest
and simplest, and a plan that I knew something about, so I went about
in the woods till I found a splendid great birch that pleased my eye,
some two feet or more in diameter, with a bark seemingly without a
flaw. It took me nearly a day to build up a kind of platform of wood
and stones, so as to reach high enough up the trunk of the tree to
make a circular incision with my knife at about fifteen feet from the
ground, and then one perpendicular till within about two feet of the
ground, where I made another round about the tree, leaving me a strip
of bark some thirteen feet in length. This I forced off, using great
care not to tear or split it, by means of a series of wedges which I
forced in under the bark with my hatchet. At last the piece lay before
me upon the ground, and the worst part of my task was done, for I soon
brought the ends together, filling them first with melted pitch, and
lashed them with thin withes of a kind of willow which I split for the
purpose, the same as the Indians do; and having sewed and lashed up
both ends, after cutting the bark with my knife in the right shape,
I split up with my hatchet long, limber, thin pieces of a species of
ash, in the green state, something like hoops to a flour barrel, but
somewhat wider and stronger, and with these cut in different lengths,
and inserted within the bark, I gave the canoe its shape, the longest,
widest, and strongest ones being in the centre, from which they
shortened towards each end. Inside of the gunwale the whole length on
each side I stretched a pliable cane pole, rolling the bark round about
it and sewing the whole down with manilla strands and green withes of
willow.
It was amazing to see what a beautiful, light, and graceful boat I had
produced with only about a week's labor; one that I could put upon my
head and carry towards the water with ease. I soon, by means of my
hatchet and knife, fashioned out a paddle, and my canoe was complete. I
launched her in Stillwater Cove, and she floated like a duck, and was
besides of a beautiful model, and, as I well knew, would stand terrific
weather if properly handled, being one of the best sea-boats in the
world, not excepting the famous Nantucket whale-boats. I was delighted
with my success.
I did not gather all these things about me without many bitter hours
of loneliness and despair; but their constructions and the reading
of my book, which I consulted almost nightly, kept me often from
miserable repinings. I felt that I was gaining, and that I had not yet
done making nature, ingenuity, and industry improve my condition and
increase my comforts.