FRITZ and I spent the whole of the next day in the woods. We took the
ass and one of the dogs with us, but left all else at home.
Our way first lay through a dense wood, where we saw no end of small
birds, but such game could not now tempt Fritz to waste his shot. We
then had to cross a vast plain, and to wade through the high grass,
which we did with care, lest we should tread on some strange thing that
might turn and bite us.
We came at last to a grove of small trees, and in their midst I saw a
bush, which I knew to be the wax tree, for the wax grew on it like white
beads. I need not say how glad I was to find so great a prize. We had
up to this time gone to bed as soon as the sun went down, for we had no
lamp to use; but as we could now make wax lights, I told Fritz that we
had found what would add two or three hours per day to our lives. We
took as much of the wax as would serve us for some time, and then made
our way out of the grove.
"How came you," said Fritz, "to know so much of the queer beasts, trees,
and plants that we have found here?"
"When young," said I, "I used to read all the books that fell in my way;
and those that told of strange lands and what was to be seen in them had
for me as great a charm as they have for Ernest, who has read a great
deal, and knows more of plants than you do."
"Well," said he, "I will do the same if I but get the chance. Can you
tell what is the name of that huge tree on the right? See, there are
balls on the bark."
We went close to it, and found that these balls were of thick gum, which
the sun had made quite hard. Fritz tried to pull one of them off, but
felt that it clung tight to the bark, though he could change its shape
with his warm hands. "Look," said he, "I feel sure that this is the
IN-DI-A RUB-BER which we used to clean our school books." I took a piece
of it in my hand, and said, "To be sure it is. What shall we not find
in this rich land?" I then told him how the men in the New World made
flasks of this gum, in which form it is sent to all parts of the world.
"And I do not see why we should not make boots of it in the same way. We
have but to fill a sock with sand, then put gum all round it, while in a
soft state, till it is as thick as we need, then pour the sand out,
and we shall have made a shoe or a boot that will at least keep out the
damp, and that is more than mine do just now."
Not far from this we came to a bush, the leaves of which were strewn
with a white dust; and close by were two or three more in the same
state. I cut a slit in the trunk of one of these, and found it full of
the white dust, which I knew by the taste to be SA-GO. We took all of
this that we could get out of the tree, for it would add to our stock of
food; and when our bags were full we laid them on the back of the ass,
and set off to find our way back to The Nest.
"Each day brings us fresh wealth," said my wife; "but I think we might
now try to add to our goods." I knew that she had some fear lest we
should one day get lost in the woods, or meet with wild beasts, so I at
once said that we would now stay at home, at least for some days.
My first work was to make some wax lights, for my wife could then mend
our clothes at night, while we sat down to talk. This done, the next
task they gave me was to make a churn. I took a large gourd, made a
small hole in the side, and cut out as much as I could, so as to leave
but the rind. In this I put the cream, laid a piece on the hole, and
bound it up so that none could come out. The boys then held a cloth, and
on it I put the gourd, which they rolled from side to side. They kept up
this game with great mirth for near an hour, when my wife took off the
string, and found that the churn had done its work well.
As our sledge was not fit to use on rough roads, my next work was to
make a cart. I had brought a pair of wheels from the wreck, so that my
task did not prove a hard one.
While I was thus at work, my wife and the boys took some of the fruit
trees we had brought with us, and put them in the ground where they
thought they would grow best. On each side of the path that led from The
Nest to the Boy's Bridge they put a row of young nut trees. To make the
path hard we laid down sand from the sea shore, and then beat it down
with our spades.
We were for six weeks at this and such like work. We were loth to spare
any pains to make The Nest, and all that could be seen near it, look
neat and trim, though there were no eyes but our own to view the scene.
One day I told my sons that I would try to make a flight of stairs in
place of the cane steps with rope sides, which were, to tell the truth,
the worst part of our house. As yet we had not used them much, but the
rain would some day force us to keep in The Nest, and then we should
like to go up and down stairs with more ease than we could now climb
the rude steps. I knew that a swarm of bees had built their nest in the
trunk of our tree, and this led me to think that there might be a void
space in it some way up. "Should this prove to be the case," I said,
"our work will be half done, for we shall then have but to fix the
stairs in the tree round the trunk." The boys got up and went to the top
of the root to tap the trunk, and to judge by the sound how far up the
hole went. But they had to pay for their want of thought; the whole
swarm of bees came out as soon as they heard the noise, stung their
cheeks, stuck to their hair and clothes, and soon put them to flight.
We found that Jack, who was at all times rash, had struck the bees' nest
with his axe, and was much more hurt by them than the rest. Ernest, who
went to his work in his slow way, got up to it last, and thus did not
get more than a sting or two, but the rest were some hours ere they
could see out of their eyes. I took a large gourd, which had long been
meant to serve for a hive, and put it on a stand, We then made a straw
roof to keep it from the sun and wind, and as by this time it grew dark,
we left the hive there for the night.
Next day, the boys, whose wounds were now quite well, went with me to
help to move the bees to the new home we had made for them. Our first
work was to stop with clay all the holes in the tree but one through
which the bees were wont to go in to their nest. To this I put the bowl
of a pipe, and blew in the smoke of the weed as fast as I could. At
first we heard a loud buzz like the noise of a storm afar off; but the
more I blew my pipe the less grew the sound, till at last the bees were
quite still.
We now cut out a piece of the trunk, three feet square, and this gave us
a full view of the nest. Our joy was great to find such a stock of wax,
for I could see the comb reached far up the tree. I took some of the
comb, in which the bees lay in swarms, and put it by on the plank.
We then put the gourd on the comb that held the swarm, and took care
that the queen bee was not left out. By these means we soon got a hive
of fine bees, and the trunk of the tree was left free for our use.
We had now to try the length of the hole. This we did with a long pole,
and found it reached as far up as the branch on which our house stood.
We now cut a square hole in that side of the trunk next the sea shore,
and made one of the doors that we had brought from the ship to fit in
the space. We then made the sides smooth all the way up, and with planks
and the staves of some old casks, built up the stairs round a pole which
we made fast in the ground. To do this we had to make a notch in the
pole and one in the side of the trunk for each stair, and thus go up
step by step till we came to the top. Each day we spent a part of our
time at what we could now call the farm, where the beasts and fowls were
kept, and did odd jobs as well, so that we should not make too great a
toil of the flight of stairs, which took us some six weeks to put up.
One day Fritz caught a fine EA-GLE, which he tied by the leg to a branch
of the tree, and fed with small birds. It took him a long while to tame,
but in time he taught it to perch on his wrist, and to feed from his
hand. He once let it go, and thought he would have lost it, but the bird
knew it had a good friend, for it came back to the tree at night. From
that time it was left free, though we thought that some day its love of
war and wild sports would tempt it to leave us for the rocks of the sea
shore, where Fritz had first found it.
Each of my boys had now some pet to take care of, and, I may say, to
tease, for they all thought they had a fair right to get some fun out of
the pets they could call their own; but they were kind to them, fed them
well, and kept them clean.
In what I may term my spare time, which was when I left off work out of
doors, I made a pair of gum shoes for each of my sons, in the way I had
told Fritz it could be done. I do not know what we should have done had
we not found the gum tree, for the stones soon wore out the boots we
had, and we could not have gone through the woods or trod the hard rocks
with bare feet.
By this time our sow had brought forth ten young pigs, and the hens had
each a brood of fine chicks. Some we kept near us, but most of them went
to the wood, where my wife said she could find them when she had need to
use them.
I knew the time must now be near when, in this clime, the rain comes
down day by day for weeks, and that it would wash us out of The Nest if
we did not make a good roof to our house. Then our live stock would need
some place where they could rest out of the rain. The thatch for The
Nest was of course our first care; then we made a long roof of canes for
our live stock, and on this we spread clay and moss, and then a thick
coat of tar, so that it was rain proof from end to end. This was held up
by thick canes stuck deep in the ground, with planks made fast to them
to form the walls, and round the whole we put a row of cask staves to
serve for rails. In this way we soon had a barn, store room, and hay
loft, with stalls for the cow, the ass, and what else we kept that had
need of a place to live in.