The Swiss family Robinson
of these monsters of the deep. My children were astonished at the
proportions of the head, which formed a third of the whole creature;
its mouth was immense; and its jaws, which were full twelve feet in
length were furnished with flexible appendages called “dewlaps,”[6]
and which in Europe form an article of commerce. One thing which
struck Fritz was the smallness of the monster’s eye, which was not
larger than that of an ox; and the opening by which his immense mouth
communicated with his throat, was scarcely the diameter of my arm.
Fritz and Jack entered the head of the whale, and working with the
hatchet and the saw, cut out the “dewlaps,” which Francis and his
mother carried to the boat; we cut out more than two hundred pieces
of different sizes. While this was going on, Ernest and I cut several
feet deep into the fat which covered the sides of the animal; we
literally swam in grease, for walls of solid fat rose on each side
of us. But we were not long the only claimants for the whale. A
multitude of winged robbers surrounded us, eager to associate in
our work. They flew round and round our heads; then, gradually
approaching, they were so bold as to snatch pieces of fat from our
hands. The birds were very troublesome; but my wife having made the
remark that their down would be of use to her, I knocked down some
with a club, and threw them into the boat. I cut from the back of the
whale a long and large band of skin, out of which I wanted to make a
harness for the ass and the two buffaloes. It was a difficult task,
the skin was so thick, and so hard to cut. The tubs were placed in
the canoe, and we set out for the coast with the new cargo we had
acquired. It was for us a precious treasure, but far from agreeably
obtained.
The next morning we again embarked in the canoe; but this time
Francis and his mother were left behind, as they could have been
of no use in the work I intended, which was to penetrate into the
interior of the whale, and, if possible, to procure some parts of its
immense intestines. A fresh wind was blowing, and we soon arrived
at the island, which we found covered with gulls and other marine
birds, who, in spite of the canvas with which the pieces that had
been cut from the whale were covered, had made a plentiful meal. It
was necessary to have recourse to fire-arms to drive away this horde
of pillagers.
We took care, before commencing our work, to strip off every article
of clothing, excepting our pantaloons; then, like true butchers, we
opened the animal, selected from the mass of entrails those which
would best suit our purpose; I cut them in pieces of from six to
twelve feet long, and, after having turned them inside out, washed
them, and well rubbed them with sand; they were then placed in the
boat.
We abandoned the rest of our prey to the voracious birds; and, after
having loaded our boat with a new cargo of whale blubber, we set sail
for Felsenheim.
The reason that I had taken so much trouble to obtain the whale’s
intestines was, that I wished to use them as vessels to contain the
oil.
When we arrived at home, we found my wife anxiously expecting us;
but the sight of our greasy habiliments almost frightened her, and
she anticipated the labour of washing them with no very pleasurable
sensations; but I consoled her by promising miracles from the rich
treasures of whale oil, and the entrails we had brought home. We
washed ourselves completely, and, after an entire change of clothing,
set out for Felsenheim.
FOOTNOTE:
[6] Whalebone.
CHAPTER XL
The Boat-propeller or Rowing Machine--A
Turtle Drive
The day had scarcely dawned when we were all up and ready for work.
The four tubs of fat were raised from the ground, and, a strong
pressure being applied, we squeezed out as much of the oil as
possible; and as this was the finest and purest, we filled one or two
of the entrails with it.
The rest was emptied into a large iron kettle, and, a slow fire being
applied, it was soon reduced to a liquid state. A large iron spoon,
which we had saved from the wreck, and which had been originally
intended for the sugar factory, served us to empty the oil into
the entrails from the kettle. All these works were carried on at
a distance from Felsenheim, as we did not wish to perfume the air
around our habitation with the fœtid odour of whale oil.
While we were occupied in our manufacture of oil, my wife made me
a proposition which met my hearty approbation: it was to establish
a new colony on the island of the whale. “We will put some fowls
there,” said she; “they will be safe from their two great plagues,
the monkeys and the jackals.”
I liked the project of my wife very much; and the children were so
enchanted that they wanted to start immediately, and put it into
execution. But it was now too late, and I calmed their ardour by
mentioning an idea I had conceived of fitting a propelling machine to
the canoe.
“Oh,” cried Jack, “the canoe will go along without any rowing; how
fine it will be!”
“Stop, stop,” said I; “not so fast. All that I can do will be to save
your arms some labour, and quicken our speed.”
I immediately commenced the work. All my materials consisted of the
wheel of a smoke-jack and an iron-toothed axle upon which it turned.
The machine that I constructed was not a masterpiece of execution;
but it answered the purpose very well. A handle attached to the wheel
put the machine in motion, and two large flat pieces of whalebone,
nailed together in the form of a cross, and fixed at each end of
the axle, resembled the wheels of a steamboat. When the handle was
turned, the wings of whalebone beat against the surface of the water,
and drove the canoe forward. Its velocity was in proportion to the
power imparted to the wheel.
I will not attempt to describe the transports of joy that my children
evinced when they saw the canoe gliding over the surface of the
water. I was astonished myself at the rapidity of our course. We
had scarcely touched the land, when every one was in the boat, and
begging me to make an excursion to the island of the whale. But the
day was too far advanced to admit of such a thing, and I promised
them that we would make, on the morrow, a grand trial of our vessel
by an excursion, by sea, to the farmhouse at Prospect Hill, for the
purpose of inspecting our colony there.
My proposition was well received, and we immediately began to
prepare our arms and provisions, so that we could start early on the
morrow.
At the first dawning of the day everybody was ready. We did not
forget provisions; and my wife put up, in a double envelope of fresh
leaves, a piece of the whale’s tongue, which, by the recommendation
of doctor Ernest, she had cooked and spiced as a delicate viand.
We gaily quitted the shore, and the strong current of the Jackal’s
River soon brought us into the sea; the breeze was good, and
everything promised a favourable sail. We soon perceived Shark
Island, the bank of sand where the whale had been stranded; and so
well did our machine work, that in a short time we found ourselves in
sight of Prospect Hill. I had kept at some distance from the coast,
as I was afraid that there might be some hidden rocks inshore, which
might destroy our frail bark.
When we had arrived opposite the “Wood of Monkeys,” I ran the
boat into a little creek, and landed, to replenish our stock of
cocoa-nuts. It was with feelings of the keenest pleasure that we
heard the crowing of the cocks through the woods, announcing the
neighbourhood of the farmhouse. We re-embarked and rapidly neared
Prospect Hill, and could plainly distinguish the bleating of our
little herd. We landed, and directed our course toward the farmhouse.
Everything was in order; but what greatly astonished us was the
wildness of the sheep and goats, who fled on all sides at our
approach. My sons began to run after them; but as the long-bearded
ladies were far more agile than they were, they soon grew tired of
the chase, and, drawing from their pockets the strings with balls
attached, they soon captured three or four of the fugitives. We
distributed some potatoes and a handful of salt among them, in
return for which they yielded us several bowls of most delicious milk.
We dined at Prospect Hill. The cold meats we had brought had composed
our repast; but the whale’s tongue was unanimously pronounced most
detestable and only fit for a sailor. We gave it to Jack’s jackal,
the only one of our domestic animals who had followed us.
I left my wife to make the preparations for our departure, and
started out with Fritz to gather some sugar-cane. I also dug up some
roots of this precious article to plant on Whale Island.
We weighed anchor, or, at least, we pulled up the stone that secured
us, and coasted along in the direction of Cape Disappointment, which
I wished to double; but the cape still justified its name, and a
long bank of sand stretching out prevented our progress, and we were
obliged to turn back. I hoisted the sail, we redoubled our labours at
the wheel, and, thanks to a little breeze that sprang up, were soon
in sight of Whale Island.
On landing, my first care was to plant the roots I had brought from
Prospect Hill; but my companions, on whose assistance I had counted,
did not think the plantation of sufficient consequence for them, and
ran off to the beach to gather shells. My good wife supplied their
places, and we two began our labours. We had scarcely commenced when
Jack came running up to us, all out of breath. “Papa, papa,” cried
he, “come here--quick, I have discovered the skeleton of a mammoth!”
I burst into a laugh, and informed my little boy that his skeleton
was nothing more than the carcass of our whale.
“No, no,” replied he; “they are not fish bones, but those of some
immense animal; and, besides, they lie a great deal farther up on the
sand than the whale did.”
Jack implored and entreated so earnestly that I consented at last to
go; but another voice soon stopped my progress.
“Run, run--this way,” screamed Fritz, from some distance, waving his
hand to hasten my arrival. “Quick--a monstrous turtle that we are
not strong enough to turn.” I caught up two handspikes and ran, as
fast as possible, to the spot, where I found Ernest struggling with
a monstrous turtle, which he held by one leg, but which, despite all
his efforts, had reached the border of the sea. I arrived just in
time; and, throwing one of the spikes to Fritz, we were able to turn
the enormous animal on its back.
It really was of prodigious size, about eight feet and a half in
length, and could not possibly weigh less than five hundred pounds.
I did not know how we should be able to carry it away; however, the
position in which we had placed it gave us time for reflection.
But Jack had not forgotten his mammoth, and continued teasing me to
go and see it. I soon perceived that it really was our whale; but the
birds of prey had not left a morsel of flesh on the bones, which had
blanched in the sun. I showed him our footprints in the sand, and
some morsels of whalebone which we had forgotten.
“Can we not,” said Fritz, in considering the skeleton of a whale,
“draw from this mountain of bones some utility?”
“I do not know,” said I, “what use we can make of them; the
Hollanders make palings of them, and also rustic chairs, which
produce a fine effect; and we will one day, when we have leisure,
make a philosophical chair for our museum.” Discussing in this
manner, we arrived at our plantation. I perceived that it was
too late to finish our work that night. We buried the roots,
yet unplanted, in the ground, and deferred till another day this