The Swiss family Robinson
as tiles. I laid them in the sun, and was gratified in seeing they
hardened quickly; I then removed them, and my sons placed them in
order against the side of the rock, till they were wanted for our
internal arrangements.
When I could enter the cavern freely with a good doorway, and it was
sufficiently lighted by the windows, I erected a partition, for the
distribution of our apartments and other conveniences. The extent
of the place afforded ample room for my design, and even allowed
me to leave several spaces in which salt and other articles could
be stored. I laid out the interior in the following manner: A very
considerable space was first partitioned off in two divisions; the
one on the right was appropriated to our residence, that on the
left was to contain the kitchen, stables, and work-room. At the
end of the second division, where windows could not be placed, the
cellar and store-room were to be formed; the whole separated by
partition-boards, with doors of communication, so as to give us a
pleasant and comfortable abode.
The side we designed to lodge in was divided into three apartments;
the first, next the door, was the bedroom for my wife and me, the
second a dining-parlour, and the last a bedroom for the boys. As we
had only three windows, we put one in each sleeping-room; the third
was fixed in the kitchen, where my wife would often be. A grating
for the present fell to the lot of our dining-room, which when too
cold was to be exchanged for one of the other apartments. I contrived
a good fireplace in the kitchen near the window; I pierced the
rock a little above, and four planks nailed together, and passing
through this opening, answered the purpose of a chimney. We made
the work-room near the kitchen of sufficient dimensions for the
performance of undertakings of some magnitude; it served also to keep
our cart and sledge in. Lastly, the stables, which were formed into
four compartments, to separate the different species of animals,
occupied all the bottom of the cavern on this side; on the other were
the cellar and magazine.
The long stay we made at Tent House, during these employments,
furnished us an opportunity of perceiving several advantages we had
not reckoned upon. Immense turtles were often seen on the shore,
where they deposited their eggs in the sand, and they regaled us
with a rich treat; but, extending our wishes, we thought of getting
possession of the turtles themselves for livestock, and of feasting
on them whenever we pleased. As soon as we saw one on the sands,
one of my boys was despatched to cut off its retreat; meanwhile we
approached the animal, and quietly, without doing it any injury,
turned it on its back, then passed a long cord through the shell,
and tied the end of it to a stake, which we fixed close to the edge
of the water. This done, we set the prisoner on its legs again; it
hastened into the sea, but could not go beyond the end of the cord;
apparently it was all the happier, finding food with more facility
along shore than out at sea; and we enjoyed the idea of being able to
take it when wanted.
A number of sea-dogs came into Safety Bay, and ascended the river in
search of prey, sporting in the water along shore, without evincing
any fear of us. The fish presented no attraction to the palate, but
its skin, tanned and dressed, makes excellent leather. I was in great
need of it for straps and harness, to make saddles for Fritz and
Jack to ride the onagra and buffalo, and in short for our own use to
cut up into soles, belts, and pantaloons, of which articles we much
wanted a fresh supply; besides, I knew the fat yielded good lamp oil,
that might be substituted for tapers in the long evenings of winter;
and that it would be further useful in tanning and rendering the
leather pliant.
At this time I likewise made some improvements in our sledge, to
facilitate the carrying of stores from Falcon’s Stream to our
dwelling in the rock at Tent House. I raised it on two beams,
on axle-trees, at the extremities of which I put on the four
gun-carriage wheels I had taken off the cannon from the vessel;
by this alteration I obtained a light and convenient vehicle, of
moderate height, on which boxes and casks could be placed. Pleased
with the operations of the week, we set out all together with
cheerful hearts for Falcon’s Stream, to pass our Sunday there,
and once more offer our pious thanks to the Almighty, for all the
benefits He had bestowed upon His defenceless creatures.
CHAPTER XXXI
New Fishery--New Experiments--New
Discoveries, and House
The enterprise of our dwelling went on, sometimes as a principal,
sometimes as an intermediate occupation, according to the greater or
less importance of other concerns; but though we advanced thus with
moderate rapidity, the progress was such as to afford the hope of our
being settled within it by the time of the rainy season.
From the moment I discovered gypsum to be the basis of the crystal
salt in our grotto, I foresaw some great advantages I should derive
from it; but to avoid enlarging the dimensions of our house by
digging further, I tried to find a place in the continuation of the
rock, which I might be able to blow up. I had soon the good fortune
to meet with a narrow slip between the projections of the rock, which
I could easily, by the means I proposed, convert into a passage that
should terminate in our work-room. I found also on the ground a
quantity of fragments of gypsum, and removed a great number of them
to the kitchen, where we did not fail to bake a few of the pieces at
a time when we made a fire for cooking, which, thus calcined, rubbed
into a powder when cold; we obtained a considerable quantity of it,
which I put carefully into casks for use when the time should come
for finishing the interior of our dwelling. My notion was to form the
walls, for separating the apartments, of the squares of stone I had
already provided, and to unite them together with a cement of this
new ingredient, which would be the means, both of sparing the timber,
and increasing the beauty and solidity of the work.
One day as Jack and I were walking near the mouth of Jackal’s
River, we perceived immense quantities of a large fish moving
slowly towards the banks. As they came nearer, I distinguished the
largest to resemble sturgeons, a fish found in higher latitudes,
while the smallest I pronounced to be salmon. Jack now strutted
about in ecstasies. “What say you now, father?” said he; “this is
nothing like your little paltry fry! A single fish of this troop
would fill a tub!”--“No doubt,” answered I; and with great gravity I
added,--“Pr’ythee, Jack, step into the river, and fling them to me
one by one, that I may take them home to salt and dry.”
He looked at me for a moment with a sort of vacant doubt if I could
possibly be in earnest: then seizing suddenly a new idea--“Wait a
moment, father,” cried he, “and I will do so”: and he sprang off
like lightning towards the cavern, from whence he soon returned
loaded with a bow and arrows, the bladders of the sea-dogs, and a
ball of string, to catch, as he assured me, every one of the fishes.
I looked on with interest and curiosity to mark what was next to
happen, while the animation of his countenance, the promptitude and
boyish gracefulness of his motions, and the firm determination of his
manner, afforded me the highest amusement. He tied the bladders round
at certain distances with a long piece of string, to the end of which
he fastened an arrow and a small iron hook; he placed the large ball
of string in a hole in the ground at a sufficient distance from the
water’s edge, and then he shot off an arrow, which the next instant
stuck in one of the largest fishes. My young sportsman uttered a
shout of joy. At the same moment Fritz joined us, and witnessed this
unexpected feat without the least symptom of jealousy. “Well done,
brother Jack,” cried he; “but let me, too, have my turn.”--Saying
this, he ran back and fetched the harpoon and the windlass, and
returned to us accompanied by Ernest. We were well pleased with
their opportune arrival, for the salmon Jack had pierced struggled
so fiercely, that all our endeavours to hold the string were
insufficient, and we dreaded at every throw to see it break, and the
animal make good its escape. By degrees, however, its strength was
exhausted, and, aided by Fritz and Ernest, we succeeded in drawing it
to a bank, where I put an end to its existence.
This fortunate beginning of a plan for a fishery inspired us all with
hope and emulation. Fritz eagerly seized his harpoon and windlass;
I, for my part, like Neptune, wielded a trident; Ernest prepared
the large fishing-rod; and Jack his arrow, with the same apparatus
as before, not forgetting the bladders, which were so effectual
in preventing the fish from sinking when struck. We were now more
than ever sensible of our loss in the destruction of the tub-boat,
with which we could have pursued the creatures in the water, and
have been spared much pains and difficulty; but, on the other hand,
such numbers of fishes presented themselves at the mouth of the
river, that we had only to choose among them. Jack’s arrow, after
missing twice, struck the third time a large sturgeon, which was so
untractable, that we had great difficulty in securing him. I too had
caught two of the same fish, and had been obliged to go up to the
middle in the water to manage my booty. Ernest, with his rod and
line and a hook, had also taken two smaller ones. Fritz, with his
harpoon, had struck a sturgeon at least eight feet in length, and
the skill and strength of our whole company were found necessary to
conduct him safe to shore, where we harnessed the buffalo to him with
strong cords to draw him to Tent House.
When these various concerns were complete, we began to meditate a
plan for constructing a small boat as a substitute for the tub-raft,
to come close in to shore. I had a great desire to make it, as the
savages do, of the rind of a tree; but the difficulty was to fix
on one of sufficient bulk for my purpose; for though many were to
be found in our vicinity, yet each was on some account or other of
too much value to be spared. We therefore resolved to make a little
excursion in search of a tree of capacious dimensions, and in a
situation where it was not likely to yield us fruit, to refresh us
with its shade, or to adorn the landscape round our dwelling.
We arrived at Falcon’s Stream, where we intended to pass the
night. We visited the ground my wife had so plentifully sowed with
grain, which had sprung up with an almost incredible rapidity and
luxuriance, and was now nearly ready for reaping. We cut down what
was fairly ripe, bound it together in bundles, and conveyed it to a
place where it would be secure from the attacks of more expert grain
consumers than ourselves, of which thousands hovered round the booty.
We reaped barley, wheat, rye, oats, pease, millet, lentils--only
a small quantity of each, it is true, but sufficient to enable us
to sow again plentifully at the proper season. The plant that had
yielded the most was maize, a proof that it best loved the soil. It
had already shown itself in abundance in our garden at Tent House;
but here there was a surface of land, the size of an ordinary field,
entirely covered with its splendid golden ears, which still more
than the other plants attracted the voracity of the feathered race.
The moment we drew near, a dozen at least of large bustards sprang up
with a loud rustling noise, which awakened the attention of the dogs;
they plunged into the thickest parts, and routed numerous flocks of
birds of all kinds and sizes, who took hastily to flight. Among the