Then indeed ensued a happy meeting, and we gave thanks together for the mercy which had spared our lives.
Returning joyfully to Rockburg, we changed our drenched garments for warm dry clothes; and, seated at a comfortable meal, considered and described at our ease the perils of the storm.
Afterwards, the head of the walrus was conveyed to our workshop; where it underwent such a skilful and thorough process of cleaning, embalming and drying, that ere long it was actually fixed on the prow of the cajack, and a most imposing appearance it presented!
The strips of hide, when well tanned and prepared, made valuable leather.
Much damage had been done by the late storm. The heavy rain had flooded all the streams, and injured crops which should have been housed and safe before the regular rainy season.
The bridge over Jackal River was partly broken down, and the water tanks and pipes all needed repair. So that our time was much occupied in restoring things to order.
On going to work one day near the cascade, we found a great number of dark-red berries, scattered on the ground; they were about the size of ordinary hazel-nuts, with small leafy coronets at the tip.
The boys thought them so inviting, that they tasted them at once, but angry exclamations and much spitting and spluttering followed the experiment; even Knips rejected them, and they would have been cast aside with contempt, had not the smell induced me to examine them. I decided that this was the fruit of the clove.
Some plants were immediately set in the nursery garden, and my wife was pleased to have this excellent spice wherewith to flavour her boiled rice and other dishes, in lieu of pepper—a very welcome variety to everyone.
Having a good supply of clay, brought from the bed near Falconhurst, I proposed to use it for making aqueducts; and, observing how much the recent rain had promoted the growth of our young corn, I determined to irrigate the fields with the drainage from our crushing-mill.