Every fifth animal that they brought me I told them should be mine, that I might obtain material for a hat for myself and their mother. The boys at once agreed to this arrangement, and began the manufacture of the traps, which were all so made that they should kill the rats at once, for I could not bear the idea of animals being tortured or imprisoned.
While they were thus engaged I applied myself to the manufacture of porcelain. I first cleaned the pipe-clay and talc from all foreign substances, and made them ready to be beaten down with water into a soft mass, and then prepared my moulds of gypsum plaster. These preparations were at length made, and the moulds received a thin layer of the porcelain material. When this was partly baked, I sprinkled over it a powder of coloured glass beads which I had crushed, and which looked very pretty in patterns upon the transparent porcelain.
Some of my china vessels cracked with the heat of the stove, some were very ill-shaped; but, after many failures, I succeeded in producing a set of white cups and saucers, a cream-jug, a sugar-basin, and half a dozen small plates.
I must allow that my china was far from perfect; the shape of some of the vessels was faulty, and none were really transparent; nevertheless, the general appearance gave great satisfaction, and when the plates were filled with rosy and golden fruit resting on green leaves, and fragrant tea filled the cups, it greatly added to the appearance of the table.
Chapter 14
Scarcely had I completed my pottery, when great black clouds and terrific storms heralded the approach of another winter. The rainy season having set in, we were compelled to give up our daily excursions.
Even in the spacious house which we now occupied, and with our varied and interesting employments, we yet found the time dragging heavily. The spirits of all were depressed, and even occasional rapid rides, during a partial cessation of the rain, failed permanently to arouse them. Fritz, as well as I, had perceived this, and he said to me:
`Why, father, should we not make a canoe, something swifter and more manageable than those vessels we as yet possess? I often long for a light skiff, in which I might skim over the surface of the water.' The idea delighted all hands, but my wife, who was never happy when we were on the sea, declared that our chances of drowning were, with the pinnace and canoe, already sufficiently great, and that there was not the slightest necessity for our adding to these chances by constructing another craft which would tempt us out upon the perfidious element.
Her fears were, however, speedily allayed, for I assured her that the boat I intended to construct should be no flimsy cockleshell, but as safe and stout a craft as ever floated upon the sea. The Greenlander's cajack I intended to be my model, and I resolved not only to occupy the children, but also to produce a strong and serviceable canoe—a masterpiece of art.
The boys were interested, and the boat-building was soon in operation. We constructed the skeleton of whalebone, using split bamboo canes to strengthen the sides and also to form the deck, which extended the whole length of the boat, leaving merely a square hole in which the occupant of the canoe might sit.