Manufacture glass. Build a steam yacht, and circumnavigate the island.
Lay up large stores of valuable pearls obtained from the pearl oysters.
After I had perfected my submarine boat I used it often to gather the
pearl oysters, and it was not difficult to steer straight to the buoy
on the reef, fill the shelves of my boat, arise again to the surface,
and return home. After allowing my first load to putrify, I went to
work upon them and washed them out in the water of Stillwater Cove,
obtaining nearly a handful of seed-pearls, some twelve of the size of
peas, and four very handsome and perfectly-shaped larger ones. This
induced me to keep on; for here was portable wealth such as I could
take away with me when I left the island. Let it suffice to say that,
during repeated trips at intervals, I ended by obtaining probably the
finest private collection of pearls in the world. I had some eighteen
of enormous size, nearly as large as English walnuts, but as perfect
as if from the turning-lathe,--except one that had a slight blemish,
and one that was irregular in form,--and I much doubted if there were
more perfect and larger ones in any royal crown. They were regal in
size and appearance, and were, I knew, of immense value. Besides these
sixteen perfect gems without price, I had at least four hundred and
sixty as large as a small filbert nut, and several hundreds as large as
common peas, not to speak of vast quantities of seed-pearls, too many
to enumerate. If I could escape from the island, these treasures would
keep me in ease and comfort in any part of the world.
During the year succeeding the finishing of my submarine boat, I was
taken up with many new inventions almost too numerous to mention. I
enclosed another large piece of ground as a pasture for my goats, of
which I had now as many as I chose to keep; in fact, I loosed many of
the she-goats and kids into the woods to return to a state of nature,
having more than I could attend to. From the remainder I made cheese,
butter, jerked meat, etc. It may be possible that some persons have
lived as well as I, but at this time I had everything that could be
desired. I improved upon my ways of preserving my fruits, and from
a ground-nut that I found on the island extracted a most delicious
oil, which I used in all my cooking. I had by this time, by repeated
breedings, brought the wild quail, that I saw when first arriving at
the island, to a state of barnyard fowl, and I had their delicate
flesh and eggs added to my larder. From my grapes I was able to make
several kinds of pleasant light wines. In fact I had everything but
companionship.
But by my temperament I could not keep still, so I must yet invent
something new that would be of use to me. What I wanted most at
this time was glass, plate-glass for my submarine boat, and I was
determined to have it. So, with my book to guide me, at it I went.
I knew that silicic acid, practically glass, was represented by
sea-sand. I also knew, or rather discovered from perusal and study of
my book, that this sea-sand, freed from iron, formed the base of glass.
Also that silica, silicic acid, or oxide of silicon exists in great
abundance in nature, being the principal constituent in rock and stone,
and that crystal and quartz held it in its purest forms. This, combined
with potash or soda, and subjected to a powerful heat, would, I knew,
make glass, if mixed in the right proportions.
In the first place I gathered some five or six hundred pounds of
the finest, purest, and whitest sea-sand that I could find. This
I carefully washed in some seven or eight waters of Rapid River,
till it was purified of all its salt, and then it was placed in my
ore-cleansing kiln, and burned, or rather heated, to a red heat, to get
rid of all vegetable matter, and then sifted through wire screens to
get rid of any pieces of fuel with which it might have become charged.
Having thus gotten my sand all in order, purified, and cleansed, I went
with the goat team, and a handy little cart with cast-iron wheels and
frame, that I had made during odd times, to the coal mine, to bring
home some of the chalk there to be found, of which there were large
quantities, and of a fine quality. This I brought home and reduced to
a fine powder by pounding it up with hammers, and sifting it through
fine sieves. I then went to work and built some large fires upon the
seaside, upon which, when in full blaze, I placed large quantities of
kelp or barilla, which was finally converted into ashes. After I had
burned sufficient of it, I allowed the fires to go out, and gathered
the ashes carefully, to which I added a quantity of fresh water
and stirred it about carefully, preserving the fluid in open iron
pans, which I placed upon fires and evaporated, and had carbonate of
soda as the result; and, although on a desert island where there is
supposed to be nothing, my book informed me that kelp or barilla was
the best article from which to make carbonate of soda, and some kinds
of sea-sand the very best base of which to form glass. Having thus
procured the component parts of which to make my glass, I set to to
make a large clay pot in which to fuse it, that would fit in the base
of my iron-smelting furnace, so as to be surrounded by the air blasts.
My clay pits fitted me out with this without any trouble, and I then
had to manufacture a level plate of iron, about two feet square, with
a raised rim of some inch and a half in height, and this I placed in
a horizontal position in front of the door of the furnace, and rigged
above it a large iron roller to work by machinery, that could be passed
over its face. I then mixed my ingredients by hand in the following
proportions:--
Prepared sand 400 lbs.
Carbonate of soda 250 "
Ground chalk 30 "
and put the empty clay pot into the furnace and started an immense
fire around it. As soon as it was at a white heat I filled it with my
mixture, placing it in the pot by means of a long iron spoon some six
feet in length, protecting my face with a mask of goatskin, and my
hands by gloves of the same material. When vitrification was complete,
which took place in about eighteen hours, and which I ascertained by
plunging a long rod of iron into the pot, I ladled out a lot of the
mass by means of a clay-lined, long-handled, iron ladle, and poured the
rapidly-cooling but pliable substance upon the iron table constructed
for it, and, pressing the iron roller upon it in all its parts, soon
rolled out a sheet of glass two feet square and at least an inch and
a half thick. Allowing this to cool, I repeated the process after
removing it, till I had made six large squares. I then changed the
roller so as to come lower down to the iron plate, and by this method
commenced turning out sheets of plate glass two feet square and about
one quarter of an inch thick. My task was done. I had all the glass I
should ever want as long as I should live; enough for the side lights
of my boat, and also for windows to the Hermitage. Fully satisfied with
my task, I allowed my fire to go down, and the large slabs of glass to
cool.
On the next day I set to work to polish the glass I had made, and
this I found a laborious and slow task. But it had to be done, and
I commenced with fine pulverized and sifted sand, or rather quartz,
and ended with chalk. It was many weeks before all was done, for I
needed emery to help me in this task, and could find none, and had
to make other things do. But at last I had four fine slabs of plate
glass quite well polished and clear, each two feet square, and one
and a half inches thick; and several that were of a quarter of an
inch in thickness, many of which I had broken in attempting to polish
them. The latter were soon fitted into position as window lights in
the Hermitage, and pleasant enough they made the interior look. The
former were made to fit into four holes cut out of the solid iron of
the boat and fitted with flanges, into which they were set with great
care by means of what the Chinese call _chenam_, a sort of water cement
made of lime, oil, white of eggs, and clam shells powdered fine, used
by them in making all their vessels water-tight. These four panes of
plate glass, each two feet square, and an inch and a half thick, were
placed at either end and both sides of my boat on the slanting roof,
and gave me a chance to see in what direction the boat was moving,
to avoid obstacles, and aid me in submarine navigation. They were
also thick enough to withstand a blow of great force, and not to be
affected by the pressure of water upon them when at great depths; but,
to preserve them more fully from any danger, I built outside of them
all a wire screen, the meshes of which were perhaps two inches apart,
and distant from the face of the glass outwards some six inches, made
of strong iron wire at least three eighths of an inch in diameter, so
that if by chance the boat should receive a blow, or be forced upon or
back against any object, these screens would receive the blow and not
the naked glass, although I am ready to believe that the latter would
have sustained an immense shock without breaking, it was so thick and
perfect, without crack or flaw. I should have said that all my glass
had just the faintest tinge of green, caused by the minute particles
of iron in the sea-sand of which it was composed, of which I had not
been able to completely free it, although I had used magnets to extract
large portions of it; but enough remained to give it this very light
tinge of which I have spoken.
I had no difficulty in cutting my thin glass into any shape I
desired, by means of case-hardened steel, which would scratch it deep
enough to be broken off, although a glazier's diamond would have
perhaps performed the operation better; but a piece of sharp-edged
chilled-steel answered all practical purposes. Later on I had occasion
to again make glass, but at this time I did not waste a moment in
making household utensils, glasses, or bottles, my earthenware, wooden
ware, and ironware doing excellent service for me, and I had need of no
utensil that they could not supply.
With my submarine boat perfected and supplied as it now was with its
immense windows, I made many trips, and the sights under the water that
my eyes gazed upon I could write thousands of pages about. I made no
great discovery, however, in all my wanderings, except to find two
more oyster-banks, more to the northeast than the first one, but not so
prolific. I saw often many creatures that never come to the surface,
and for which there is no name, some of them small and seemingly
harmless, and others quite frightful and startling. I passed over, upon
three different occasions, enormous cuttle-fishes, or squids, with
tentacles at least six or eight feet in length, and eyes three inches
in diameter; but they never, upon any occasion, paid the slightest
attention to my boat, but remained perfectly motionless, clinging to
the stony bottom, waiting for their prey, and I took good care never
to disturb them. Immense crabs and lobsters, the very patriarchs of
the ocean, often lay on the bottom to my view, and seemingly deformed
and curious fishes, large and small, some like serpents and some like
inflated balls, often met my view as I floated along with the tide a
few feet above the bottom. I never wholly got over the sensation of
being at the bottom of the ocean; it always seemed as if I had entered
another world, where all was changed, and in which every living thing
was compelled to keep an eternal silence.
Many parts of the bottom, especially that near the pearl-oyster reef
and the approaches to Stillwater Cove, became, shortly after using my
glass windows, as familiar to me as similar places would have been
on land; there being fully as many distinguishing marks, peculiar in
themselves, as upon the rocks and protuberances of the island itself.
I loved this lonely under-water drifting about, and indulged in it as
a recreation as well as to increase my store of pearls. I sometimes
watched for hours the habits and movements of the animals below me,
that seemed not to care for my presence; but quite often some huge
monster of the sea would pass by me, making me hold my breath with awe,
if not fright. But I often thought that my iron boat would be a hard
mouthful for anything beneath the waters to attempt to swallow.
I had long, long ago given over any idea of being attacked by savages,
and my nerves had become again, as in my younger days, hard as steel;
yet I often used to think of how I could lie concealed in this boat,
beyond discovery from any source, should I ever be attacked, or how,
rising to the surface amongst a fleet of canoes, I could spread dismay
by my appearance alone from the bottom of the ocean, among any body of
savages, however numerically strong or valiant.
No one will ever know the gardens of the ocean that I often sailed
over, more beautiful far than anything upon the earth.
My restless energy did not stop at the consummation of this submarine
boat, but during this year I went to work upon a beautiful small steam
yacht, to use for my pleasure and recreation. It was built partly of
wood and iron, and constructed upon the ways from which the submarine
boat was formerly launched. This steam yacht was not very large, but
it was of a fine model and graceful lines. I built it twenty feet in
length and six feet in width, and three feet draft of water, with
nearly the whole decked over except the cockpit aft. It was fitted with
one long mast, situated near the bows, and only to be used in case of
emergency. The building of the boiler and engine, of about four-horse
power, was to me a pleasure, not a labor, and the casting of the
screw was the only thing that gave me any trouble. But this I finally
overcame, after a few trials with different moulds. The little house
that contained the cabin and engine-room was lighted with small pieces
of plate glass, and I fitted the interior with a nice cot to sleep
upon, lockers for provisions, coal, and fuel, a small cast-iron stove
for cooking purposes, and all the handy appurtenances of a small yacht.
My sail was not a very elegant one, and was made out of strong matting,
light but coarse; I having, as yet, not attempted to make cloth in any
shape. My cable was of rawhide, and my anchors, of course, of iron.
With this boat, after a preparatory trial of its engine, in company
with one of my pet goats I set out upon the circumnavigation of my
island. It was one fine December morning that I steamed down Stillwater
Cove, the yacht moving rapidly and evenly along through the water, and
the machinery and screw working well and smoothly. I had invented a
sort of comb to retain the tiller in any given position whilst absent
from the deck in the engine-room to put on more fuel or oil the engine,
so that the yacht would proceed in a straight course till my return to
the deck. I intended to make a complete circuit of the island, and
to be absent several days if needful; so before leaving the Hermitage
I put everything in order. As to my flocks and birds, they at this
season could take care of themselves very well for a few days. I laid
my course first for West Signal Point, and, when I had doubled it,
I pointed the yacht due north, and made quite an excursion in that
direction, fully twenty-five miles; but, as I suspected, found no sign
of any other land, although I climbed upon the mast and looked about me
in all directions, the island astern being in the dim distance. I found
that my little yacht was a splendid sea-boat, and, decked over as she
was, plunged into the waves of the Pacific unharmed. Its rate of speed,
in smooth water, I estimated at fully nine knots, and in a seaway at
least five or six. Having in vain looked about me for land, which,
however, I did not expect to find, I put about and steered back to the
island, leaving West Signal Point on the port hand, and close aboard,
making my way to the southward, and parallel with the western shore of
the island, distant not over one mile.
When off Penguin Point I again put to sea, at least twenty-five miles
due west; but as in the former case discovered no land. When I had
again come up with the island the day was nearly spent, and I took
the yacht into a small cove, just to the westward of Mirror Bay,
and, having anchored in smooth water, ate my supper, played with and
caressed my goat, and went to bed. In the early morning I again got
under way and stood out to sea, to the southward, but no sign of land.
Thence I proceeded to Eastern Cape, and from there made a trip seaward,
to the eastward, but with similar barren results. From thence I made my
way home to the Hermitage, pleased with my yacht and with the trip, but
doubly convinced that my island was alone and distinct, and not one of
a series or group. As I passed Mirror Bay on this trip I was tempted
to enter it and explore the island more fully in that direction, but
as I found on the second day that my machinery of the yacht needed
some slight alteration and change, I made my way home, as I have said,
determined to make a new trip for this very purpose, and therefore,
upon my arrival, I immediately went to work upon those parts of the
engine that did not exactly please me by their working, and improved
and perfected them in my workshop, by means of my turning-lathe and
other tools, till they suited my mechanical tastes and worked perfectly
to my satisfaction. I fitted my yacht with two nice iron howitzers, of
about three pounds caliber, and had hung up in the cabin a harpoon and
lance, with two of my smooth-bored guns and plenty of ammunition. The
coal that I had stored on board would last me many days, for there was
at least three tons, and the furnace of my little boiler did not use
more than one-quarter of a ton daily, if as much. I had also on deck a
very light small boat, not over six feet in length, in which I could
reach the shore whenever I anchored the yacht near it.
Thus fitted out, which took me several days, I started again upon my
exploration, and it was upon this trip I made one of the most startling
discoveries yet since I had been shipwrecked; one that changed all
my views about the island, and the future, and carried me completely
out of my every-day life into a period of excitement, curiosity, and
amazement, and which, as will be disclosed, had a marked effect upon
all my future movements.