The Swiss Family Robinson Part 18

"It exudes a sticky moisture, its smell is unpleasant, and it destroys and devours whatever eatable comes in its way. Although, in our own country it does little harm, the large ants of foreign lands are most destructive and troublesome; it being very difficult to check their depredations. Fortunately they have enemies by whose exertions their numbers are kept down; birds, other insects, and even four-footed beasts prey upon them. Chief among the latter is the ant-bear, or tamanoir, of South America, a large creature six or seven feet in length, covered with long coa.r.s.e hair, drooping like a heavy plume over the hind quarters. The head is wonderfully elongated and very narrow; it is dest.i.tute of teeth, and the tongue resembles somewhat a great red earth-worm. It has immensely strong curved claws, with which it tears and breaks down and scratches to pieces the hard walls of the ant-heaps; then, protruding its sticky tongue, it coils and twists it about among the terrified millions disturbed by its attack; they adhere to this horrible invader, and are drawn irresistibly backward into the hungry, toothless jaws awaiting them.

"The little ant-eater is not more than about twenty-one inches in length, has a shorter and more natural looking head, and fine silky fur.

It usually lives in trees."

I was pleased to find my memory served me so well on this subject, as it interested my boy amazingly; and occupied us for a considerable time while we traveled onward.

Arriving presently at a grove of tall trees, with very strong, broad thick leaves, we paused to examine them; they bore a round, fig-like fruit, full of little seeds and of a sour, harsh taste.

Fritz saw some gummy resin exuding from cracks in the bark, and it reminded him of the boyish delight afforded by collecting gum from cherry-trees at home, so that he must needs stop to sc.r.a.pe off as much as he could. He rejoined me presently, attempting to soften what he had collected in his hands; but finding it would not work like gum, he was about to fling it away, when he suddenly found that he could stretch it and that it sprang back to its original size.

"Oh, father, only look! this gum is quite elastic! Can it possibly be india-rubber?"

"What!" cried I; "let me see it! a valuable discovery that would be, indeed; and I do believe you are perfectly right!"

"Why would it be so very valuable, father?" inquired Fritz. "I have only seen it used for rubbing out pencil marks."

"India-rubber," I replied, "or, more properly, caoutchouc, is a milky, resinous juice which flows from certain trees in considerable quant.i.ties when the stem is purposely tapped. These trees are indigenous to the South American countries of Brazil, Guiana, and Cayenne. The natives, who first obtained it, used to form bottles by smearing earthen flasks with repeated coatings of the gum when just fresh from the trees, and when hardened and sufficiently thick, they broke the mold, shook out the fragments, and hung the bottles in the smoke, when they became firmer and of a dark color. While moist, the savages were in the habit of drawing rude figures and lines on the resin by way of ornament; these marks you may have observed, for the bottles obtained from the natives by the Spaniards and Portuguese have for years been brought to Europe, and cut into portions to be sold for use in drawing. Caoutchouc can be put to many uses, and I am delighted to have it here, as we shall, I hope, be able to make it into different forms; first and foremost, I shall try to manufacture boots and shoes."

Soon after making this discovery, we reached the cocoanut wood, and saw the bay extending before us, and the great promontory we called Cape Disappointment, which hitherto had always bounded our excursions.

In pa.s.sing through the wood, I remarked a smaller sort of palm, which, among its grand companions, I had not previously noticed. One of these had been broken by the wind, and I saw that the pith had a peculiar mealy appearance, and I felt convinced that this was the world-renowned sago-palm.

In the pith I saw some fat worms or maggots, and suddenly recollected that I had heard of them before as feeding on the sago, and that in the West Indies they are eaten as a delicacy.

I felt inclined to try what they tasted like; so at once kindling a fire, and placing some half-dozen, sprinkled with salt, on a little wooden spit, I set them to roast.

Very soon rich fat began to drop from them, and they smelt so temptingly good that all repugnance to the idea of eating worms vanished; and, putting one like a pat of b.u.t.ter on a baked potato, I boldly swallowed it and liked it so much that several others followed in the same way.

Fritz also summoned courage to partake of this novel food, which was a savory addition to our dinner of baked potatoes.

Being once more ready to start, we found so dense a thicket in the direct route that we turned aside without attempting to penetrate it, and made our way toward the sugar brake near Cape Disappointment. This we could not pa.s.s without cutting a handsome bundle of sugar-canes, and the donkey carried that, in addition to the bag of wax berries.

In time we reached the sledge in Calabash Wood: the a.s.s was unloaded, everything placed on the sledge, and our patient beast began calmly and readily to drag the burden he had hitherto borne on his back.

No further adventure befell us, and we arrived in the evening at Falconhurst, where our welcome was as warm as usual--all we had to tell listened to with the greatest interest, all we had to show most eagerly examined, the pretty green parroquet enchanting the boys most particularly.

An excellent supper was ready for us, and with thankful hearts we enjoyed it together; then, ascending to our tree-castle, and drawing up the ladder after us, we betook ourselves to the repose well earned and greatly needed after this fatiguing day.

The idea of candle-making seemed to have taken the fancy of all the boys; and next morning they woke, one after the other, with the word candle on their lips. When they were thoroughly roused they continued to talk candles; all breakfast-time, candles were the subject of conversation; and after breakfast they would hear of nothing else but setting to work at once and making candles.

"So be it," said I; "let us become chandlers."

I spoke confidently, but to tell the truth, I had in my own mind certain misgivings as to the result of our experiment. In the first place, I knew that we lacked a very important ingredient--animal fat, which is necessary to make candles burn for any length of time with brilliancy.

Besides this, I rather doubted how far my memory would recall the various operations necessary in the manufacture. Of all this, however, I said nothing; and the boys, under my direction, were soon at work. We first picked off the berries and threw them into a large shallow iron vessel placed on the fire. The green, sweet-scented wax was rapidly melted, rising to the surface of the juice yielded by the berries. This we skimmed off and placed in a separate pot by the fire, ready for use; repeating the operation several times, until we had collected sufficient liquid wax for our purpose. I then took the wicks my wife had prepared, and dipped them one after the other into the wax, handing them as I did so to Fritz, who hung them up on a bush to dry. The coating they thus obtained was not very thick; but, by repeating the operation several times, they at length a.s.sumed very fair proportions, and became real st.u.r.dy candles. Our wax being at an end, we hung these in a cool, shady place to harden; and that same night we sat up like civilized beings three whole hours after sunset, and Falconhurst was for the first time brilliantly illuminated.

We were all delighted with the success of our experiment.

"You are indeed clever," said my wife; "I only wish that with your ingenuity you would show me how to make b.u.t.ter. Day after day I have the annoyance of seeing a large supply of good cream go bad under my very eyes, simply because I have no use to which to put it. Invent a plan, please do."

"I think that perhaps I can help you," I replied, after a little consideration; "not that I can claim the honor of the invention of my plan; that is due to the Hottentots. I will see what I can do. Jack, bring me one of our gourd bottles."

I took the gourd, one of those I had previously prepared, with a small hole at one end and well hollowed out and cleaned; this I partially filled with cream and then corked up the hole tightly.

"Here, boys," said I, "you can continue the operation, while I turn carpenter and make a cart to take the place of our sledge."

I gave them their directions, and then set about my own work. They fixed four posts in the ground, and to them fastened a square piece of sailcloth by four cords attached to the corners. In this cradle they placed the gourd of cream, and each taking a side rolled it backward and forward continuously for half an hour.

"Now," I cried, looking up from my work, "open the gourd and take the contents to your mother, with my compliments."

They did so; and my good wife's eyes were delighted with the sight of a large lump of capital fresh b.u.t.ter.

With my son's a.s.sistance the cart was in time completed; a clumsy vehicle it was, but strong enough for any purpose to which we might put it, and, as it proved, of immense use to us in collecting the harvest.

We then turned our attention to our fruit-trees, which we had planted in a plot ready for transplanting. The walnut, cherry, and chestnut trees we arranged in parallel rows, so as to form a shady avenue from Falconhurst to Family-bridge; and between them we laid down a tolerable road, that we might have no difficulty in reaching Tentholm, be the weather bad as it might. We planted the vines round the arched roots of our great mangrove, and the rest of the trees in suitable spots; some near Falconhurst, and others away over Jackal River, to adorn Tentholm.

Tentholm had been the subject of serious thoughts to me for some time past, and I now turned all my attention thither. It was not my ambition to make it beautiful, but to form of it a safe place of refuge in a case of emergency. My first care, therefore, was to plant a thick, p.r.i.c.kly hedge capable of protecting us from any wild animal, and forming a tolerable obstacle to the attack of even savages, should they appear.

Not satisfied with this, however, we fortified the bridge, and on a couple of hillocks mounted two guns which we brought from the wreck, and with whose angry mouths we might bark defiance at any enemy, man or beast.

Six weeks slipped away while we were thus busily occupied, six weeks of hard, yet pleasant, labor. We greeted each Sunday and its accompanying rest most gratefully, and on that day always, especially thanked G.o.d for our continued health and safety. I soon saw that this hard work was developing in the boys remarkable strength, and this I encouraged by making them practise running, leaping, climbing, and swimming; I also saw, however, that it was having a less satisfactory effect upon their clothes, which, though a short time before remarkably neat, were now, in spite of the busy mother's mending and patching, most untidy and disreputable. I determined, therefore, to pay another visit to the wreck, to replenish our wardrobe and to see how much longer the vessel was likely to hold together. Three of the boys and I went off in the pinnace. The old ship seemed in much the same condition as when we had left her; a few more planks had gone, but that was all.

"Come, boys," cried I, "not an article of the slightest value must be left on board; rummage her out to the very bottom of her hold."

They took me at my word: sailors' chests, bales of cloth and linen, a couple of small guns, ball and shot, tables, benches, window shutters, bolts and locks, barrels of pitch, all were soon in a heap on the deck.

We loaded the pinnace and went on sh.o.r.e. We soon returned with our tub-boat in tow, and after a few more trips nothing was left on board.

"One more trip," said I to my wife, before we started again, "and there will be the end of the brave ship which carried us from Switzerland. I have left two barrels of gunpowder on board and mean to blow her up."

Before we lighted the fusee, I discovered a large copper cauldron which I thought I might save. I made fast to it a couple of empty casks, that when the ship went up it might float. The barrels were placed, the train lighted, and we returned on sh.o.r.e.

The supper was laid outside the tent, at a spot from whence we might obtain a good view of the wreck. Darkness came on. Suddenly a vivid pillar of fire rose from the black waters, a sullen roar boomed across the sea, and we knew that our good old ship was no more.

We had planned the destruction of the vessel; we knew that it was for the best; and yet that night we went to bed with a feeling of sadness in our hearts, as though we had lost a dear old friend.

Next morning all our sadness was dispelled, and it was with pleasure that we saw the sh.o.r.e lined with a rich store of planks and beams, the remnants of the wreck. I soon found, too, the copper cauldron which was successfully floated by the casks; this I got on sh.o.r.e, and hauling it up among the rocks, stored under it the powder casks we had landed the day before. Collecting all these valuables gave us some little trouble, and while we were thus engaged my wife brought us good news. She had discovered that two ducks and a goose had each reared a large family among the reeds by the river; and they presently appeared waddling past us, apparently vastly well-pleased with their performance. We greeted them joyfully.

"Hurrah!" cried Ernest, "we'll be able to afford duck and green peas some day soon, and imagine we're once more civilized mortals."

The sight of these birds reminded me of our family at Falconhurst, and I announced my intention of paying them a visit.

Every one was delighted and every one would come with me. As we approached Falconhurst I noticed that several young trees in our avenue were considerably bent by the wind, and this resolved me to make an expedition next day to cut bamboos for their support. As Fritz was the only one besides myself who had visited Cape Disappointment and the surrounding country, my wife and the younger boys begged hard to be allowed to accompany me. I consented; and next morning we started, bringing with us the cart, drawn by the cow and a.s.s, and laden with everything necessary for an expedition of several days--a tent, provisions, a large supply of ammunitions, and all sorts of implements and utensils; for I intended to make a great collection of fruits and the produce of different trees. It was a lovely morning, and pa.s.sing gayly through the plantations of potatoes, manioc, and ca.s.savas, we came to the nests of the sociable grosbeak, the sight of which charmed the children immensely.

We reached the wax trees, and there I called a halt, for I wished to gather a sack or two of the berries that we might renew our stock of candles. The berries were soon plucked; and I stored them away among the bushes, marking the spot that we might find them on our return.

"Now for the caoutchouc tree," said I; "now for the waterproof boots and leggings to keep your feet dry, Ernest." To the caoutchouc tree we directed our steps, and were soon busily engaged in stabbing the bark and placing vessels beneath to catch the sap. We again moved forward; and, crossing the palm wood, entered upon a delightful plain bounded on one side by an extensive field of waving sugar-cane, on the other by a thicket of bamboos and lovely palms, while in front stretched the shining sea, calm and noiseless.

"How beautiful!" exclaimed Jack, "let us pitch our tent here and stay here always instead of living at Falconhurst. It would be jolly."

"Very likely," replied I, "and so would be the attacks of wild beasts; imagine a great tiger lying in wait in the thicket yonder, and pouncing out on us at night. No, no, thank you, I much prefer our nest in the tree, or our impregnable position at Tentholm. We must make this our headquarters for the present, however; for, though perhaps dangerous, it is the most convenient spot we shall find. Call a halt and pitch the tent."

Our beasts were quickly unyoked, the tent arranged, a large fire lit, supper started, and we dispersed in various directions, some to cut bamboos, and some to collect sugar-cane. We then returned; and, as supper was still not ready and the boys were hungry, they decided to obtain some cocoanuts. This time, however, no a.s.sistance was to be had from either monkeys or land-crabs, and they gazed up with longing eyes at the fruit above them.