The next day the weather was delightful. We rose before daybreak. My
eldest sons took their work-tools, which we might want, and their guns
also, but under the condition that they should not use them till I gave
the word, “Fire!” I carried the bag of provisions. Our flock of sheep
had increased so much at the farm, that we allowed ourselves to kill
one, and my wife had roasted a piece for us the preceding evening; to
this we added a cake of cassava, and for our dessert we depended on the
fruits of the trees we might discover. But, previous to our departure,
while I was taking leave of my wife and Francis, I heard a dispute in
the colonnade, which I hastened to learn the cause of. I found it was a
question between Fritz and Jack, whether we should make the tour of the
island by sea or land; and each was anxious for my support. Fritz
complained that, since their two expeditions in the canoe, Jack believed
himself the first sailor in the world, and that they had given him the
name of Lord of the Waves, because he was constantly saying—“When I was
under the waves—when the waves were washing over me, do you think that
they left me dry?”
“No, Mr. Sportsman,” said Jack, “you got enough of them, and that’s the
reason you don’t wish to try them again. For my part, I love the waves,
and I sing, ‘The sea! the sea! it was the sea that brought us here!’”
“What a boaster you are,” said Fritz: “it was only yesterday you said to
me, ‘I will guide you; I know the way by the rocks; I got my buffalo
there, and I intend to have another.’ Was it in the pinnace you intended
to pass the defile, and pursue buffaloes?”
“No, no! I meant on foot,” said Jack; “but I thought we should be only
two then. But, as we are four—papa at the helm, and three bold rowers,
why should we fatigue ourselves in making the tour of the island on our
legs, when we have a good vessel to carry us? What says Mr. Philosopher,
the prince of idlers, to it?”
“For my part,” said Ernest, quietly, “I am quite indifferent whether I
use my legs in walking, or my arms in rowing, it is equally fatiguing;
but walking gives me more chance of filling my plant-box and my
game-bag.”
“And does he think,” added Fritz, “that the mulberry and bread-fruit
trees, which we shall certainly find on the other side, grow on the sea?
without naming my gazelle, which does not run over the waves.”
“No, it is waiting, without moving, for you to shoot it,” said Jack;
“and Ernest, perhaps you may find on the sea some of those curious
things half plants, half animals, which you were showing me in a book.”
“The zoophytes, or polypi; for they are the same family, though there
are more than a thousand species,” said Ernest, charmed to display his
knowledge; but I stopped him by saying: “We will dispense with the
thousand names at present. After hearing all your arguments, attend to
mine; even Jack must yield to them. Our principal aim now being to
search for the trees we are in need of, and to examine the productions
of the island, our most sensible plan will be to walk.”
Jack still contended that we might land occasionally; but I showed him
the danger of this, the island being, in all probability, surrounded by
reefs, which might extend so far into the sea as to take us out of the
sight of the island; this I intended to ascertain some day; and in the
mean time I proposed to them that we should endeavour to find a pass
round the rocks on our side, from whence we could walk to the defile at
the other end, take our canoe, which we had left at anchor near the
Great Bay, and return to Tent House.
Jack was in ecstasies; he declared the pass must be very well concealed
that escaped his search, and, seizing his lasso and his bow, rushed out
the first, singing “The sea! the sea!”
“There goes a sailor formed by nature,” thought I, as we followed the
course of the chain of rocks to the left of our dwelling. It conducted
us first to the place of our landing, that little uncultivated plain of
triangular form, of which the base was washed by the sea, and the point
was lost among the rocks. I found here some traces of our first
establishment; but how wretched all appeared, compared with our present
comforts! We tried here in vain to find a passage to cross the
rocks—the chain was everywhere like an impenetrable wall. We arrived at
the ravine Fritz and Ernest had scaled when they discovered their
grotto; and, truly, nothing but the courage and rashness of youth could
have undertaken this enterprise, and continued it daily for three weeks.
It appeared to me almost impossible; Fritz offered to ascend, to show me
how they accomplished it; but I would not consent, as it could serve no
useful purpose. I thought it better for us to proceed to the border of
the island, where it was not impossible there might be a small space on
the strand between the rocks and the sea, round which we could pass;
from my sons being able to distinguish from the summit the country on
the other side, it was evident the chain of rocks could not be very
broad. Suddenly Fritz struck his forehead, and, seizing Ernest by the
arm—“Brother,” said he, “what fools we have been!”
Ernest inquired what folly they had been guilty of.
“Why did we not,” said Fritz, “when we were working within our grotto,
attempt to make the opening on the other side? We should not have had
much difficulty, I am persuaded, and if our tools had not been
sufficient, a little powder would have opened us a door on the other
side. Only consider, father, the convenience of bringing the cart loaded
with the trees we wanted through our grotto, and to be able to go
a-hunting without having I don’t know how many miles to go.”
“Well, we can still do that,” said Ernest, in his usual calm, grave
manner; “if we do not find another passage, we will make one through the
Grotto Ernestine, with mamma’s permission, as it is her property.”
This idea of my son appeared good. It was quite certain, from our
experience at Tent House and in the grotto, that the cavity in the rocks
was of very great extent, and it did not appear difficult to pierce
through to the other side; but some other chain of rocks, some gigantic
tree, some hill, at the end of our tunnel, might render all our labour
useless. I proposed that we should defer our work till we had examined
the nature of the ground on the other side; my sons agreed, and we
proceeded with renewed courage, when we were suddenly checked by the
sight of the sea beating against a perpendicular rock of terrific
height, which terminated our island on this side, and did not give us a
chance of going on. I saw the rock did not extend far; but how to get
round it, I could not devise. I did not conceive we could get the
pinnace round, as the coast seemed surrounded by reefs; masses of rock
stood up in the sea, and the breakers showed that more were hidden.
After much consideration and many plans, Ernest proposed that we should
swim out to the uncovered rocks, and endeavour to pass round. Fritz
objected, on account of his arms and ammunition; but Ernest suggested
that the powder should be secured in the pockets of his clothes, which
he might carry on his head, holding his gun above the water.
With some difficulty we arranged our incumbrances, and succeeded in
reaching the range of outer rocks, without swimming, as the water was
not above our shoulders. We rested here awhile, and, putting on some of
our clothes, we commenced our walk over sharp stones, which wounded our
feet. In many places, where the rocks lay low, we were up to the waist
in the water. Ernest, the proposer of the plan, encouraged us, and led
the way for some time; but at last he fell behind, and remained so long,
that I became alarmed, and calling aloud, for I had lost sight of him,
he answered me, and at last I discovered him stretched on the rock,
endeavouring to separate a piece from it with his knife.
“Father,” said he, “I am now certain that this bed of rocks, over which
we are walking, and which we fancied was formed of stone or flints, is
nothing but the work of those remarkable zoophytes, called coral
insects, which form coral and many other extraordinary things; they can
even make whole islands. Look at these little points and hollows, and
these stars of every colour and every form; I would give all the world
to have a specimen of each kind.”
He succeeded in breaking off a piece, which was of a deep orange-colour
inside; he collected also, and deposited in his bag, some other pieces,
of various forms and colours. These greatly enriched his collection;
and, idle as he was, he did not complain of any difficulty in obtaining
them. He had given his gun to Jack, who complained much of the
ruggedness of our road. Our march was truly painful, and I repented more
than once of having yielded to the idea; besides the misery of walking
along these shelly rocks, which presented points like the sharp teeth of
a saw, tearing our shoes and even our skin, the sea, in some of the
lower places, was so high as to bar our passage, and we were obliged, in
the interval between two waves, to rush across, with the water to our
chins. We had some difficulty to avoid being carried away. I trembled
especially for Jack; though small and light, he preferred facing the
wave to avoiding it. I was several times obliged to catch hold of him,
and narrowly escaped destruction along with him. Happily, our march was
not above half a mile, and we gained the shore at last without any
serious accident, but much fatigued and foot-sore; and we made a
resolution never more to cross the coral reefs.
After dressing ourselves, resting, and taking a slight refreshment on
the beach, we resumed our march more at our ease into the interior of
the island; but though the long grass was not so sharp as the coral, it
was almost as troublesome, twisting round our legs, and threatening to
throw us down every step we took. Ernest, loaded with his bag of
fragments of rock, coral, and zoophytes, had given his gun to Jack; and,
fearing an accident among the long grass, I thought it prudent to
discharge it. In order to profit by it, I fired at a little quadruped,
about the size of a squirrel, and killed it. It appeared to me to be the
animal called by naturalists the palm-squirrel, because it climbs the
cocoa and date-palms, hooks itself by its tail, which is very long and
flexible, to the upper branches, and feeds at pleasure on the fruit, of
which it is very fond. We amused ourselves by details of the habits of
this animal, occasionally separating to make more discoveries, but
agreeing on a particular call, which was to assemble us when
necessary,—a precaution by no means useless, as it turned out.
Fritz, with his head raised, went on examining all the trees, and
occasionally giving a keen look after his gazelle. Ernest, stooping
down, examined plants, insects, and, occasionally pursuing rare and
beautiful butterflies, was filling his bag and plant-box with various
curiosities. Jack, with his lasso in his hand, prepared himself to fling
it round the legs of the first buffalo he met with, and was vexed that
he did not see any. For my own part, I was engaged in surveying the
chain of rocks, in order to discover that which contained the Grotto
Ernestine. It was easy to recognize it, from its summit cleft in two;
and I wished to ascertain, as nearly as possible, if the cleft extended
to the base of the rock, as this would render our work much easier. This
side of the island did not resemble that near the Great Bay, with which
Jack and I had been so much charmed. The island was much narrower here,
and instead of the wide plain, crossed by a river, divided by delightful
woods, giving an idea of paradise on earth; we were journeying through a
contracted valley, lying between the rocky wall which divided the
island, and a chain of sandy hills, which hid the sea and sheltered the
valley from the wind. Fritz and I ascended one of these hills, on which
a few pines and broom were growing, and perceived beyond them a barren
tract, stretching to the sea, where the coral reefs rose to the level of
the water, and appeared to extend far into the sea. Any navigators,
sailing along these shores, would pronounce the island inaccessible and
entirely barren. This is not the fact; the grass is very thick, and the
trees of noble growth; we found many unknown to us, some loaded with
fruit; also, several beautiful shrubs covered with flowers; the dwarf
orange-tree, the elegant melaleuca, the nutmeg-tree, and the Bengal rose
blending its flowers with the fragrant jasmine. I should never finish,
if I were to try and name all the plants found in this shady valley,
which might be called the botanic garden of Nature. Ernest was in
ecstasies; he wished to carry away everything, but he did not know how
to dispose of them.
“Ah!” said he, “if only our grotto were open to this side!”
At this moment Fritz came running out of breath, crying out, “The
bread-fruit tree! I have found the bread-fruit tree! Here is the
fruit,—excellent, delicious bread. Taste it, father; here, Ernest;
here, Jack;” and he gave us each a part of an oval fruit, about the size
of an ordinary melon, which really seemed very good and nourishing.
“There are many of these trees,” continued he, “loaded with fruit. Would
that we had our grotto opened, that we might collect a store of them,
now that they are ripe.”
My boys pointed out to me exactly the situation of the grotto, judging
from the rock above, and longed for their tools, that they might
commence the opening directly. We proceeded to make our way through a
border of trees and bushes, that separated us from the rock, that we
might examine it, and judge of the difficulties of our undertaking. Jack
preceded us, as usual, after giving Ernest his gun; Fritz followed him,
and suddenly turning to me, said,—
“I believe kind Nature has saved us much trouble; the rock appears to be
divided from top to bottom; at the foot I see a sort of cave, or grotto,
already made.”
[Illustration: “We saw at the entrance of the cave two large brown
bears.”]
At this moment Jack uttered a piercing cry, and came running to us,
his lasso in his hand: “Two monstrous beasts!” cried he. “Help! help!”
We rushed forward, our guns ready, and saw at the entrance of the cave
two large brown bears. The black bear, whose fur is most valued, is
only found in cold and mountainous countries; but the brown prefers
the south. It is a carnivorous animal, considered very ferocious. The
black bear lives only on vegetables and honey. Of these, the one I
judged to be the female seemed much irritated, uttering deep growls,
and furiously gnashing her teeth. As I knew something of these animals,
having met with them on the Alps, I remembered having heard that a
sharp whistling terrifies and checks them. I therefore whistled as long
and loudly as I could, and immediately saw the female retire backwards
into the cave, while the male, raising himself on his hind legs, stood
quite still, with his paws closed. My two elder sons fired into his
breast: he fell down, but being only wounded, turned furiously on
us. I fired a third shot at him, and finished him. We then hastened
to load our guns again, to be ready to receive his companion. Jack
wished to use his lasso; but I explained to him that the legs of the
bear were too short and thick for such a measure to be successful. He
related to us, that having entered the cave, he saw something moving
at the bottom; he took up a stone, and threw it with all his strength
at the object; immediately he heard a frightful growling, and saw two
large beasts coming towards him; he had barely time to escape and call
for help, and then to hide himself behind a tree. To save ourselves
from the other bear, it was necessary that we should take some prompt
measures; we therefore advanced, and formed a line of battle before
the entrance of the cave, I then gave the word—Fire! and we all three
fired off our pieces at the same moment. A ferocious roar made us hope
the bullets had taken effect but to make sure, and to prevent the
escape of the animal if it was still living, we gathered a large heap
of dried branches and leaves before the opening, to which I set fire.
As soon as it blazed, we saw by the light the bear laid motionless
on its side, but it is well known that this animal is crafty enough
sometimes to feign itself dead till its enemy approaches near enough to
be in its power, when it seizes him in its enormous paws and strangles
him. We took a lighted branch, and approached with great precaution.
The cave did not extend far; the animal was lying on a heap of dried
leaves prepared for its young ones. I ascertained that it was really
dead. I then, with the assistance of my sons, drew it out of the
cave which was too dark for work, and I wished to secure the rich
and beautiful skins which might be useful to us in winter. We set to
work, and, as the animals were still warm, we succeeded more easily
than I could have expected, but the skins were so heavy it was almost
impossible to remove them. We therefore left them in the cave, the
bottom of which was sandy, closing the entrance with boughs that no
animal might enter to devour them, and abandoned the two bodies, only
regretting the abundance of fat which would have been useful for many
domestic purposes.