The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Then, replied I, we have only to examine how far this excavation goes, whether it extends to the roots, and what the circumference of it is; this done, we shall have gained the first difficult step in favour of our stair-case.

All my children seized the idea with ardour; they sprang up, and prepared themselves to climb the tops of the roots like squirrels, to succeed in striking at the trunk with axes, and to judge from the sound how far it was hollow; but they soon paid dearly for their attempt: the whole swarm of bees, alarmed at the noise made against their dwelling, issued forth, buzzing with fury, attacked the little disturbers, began to sting them, stuck to their hair and clothes, and soon put them to flight, bearing along with them their enemies, and uttering lamentable cries. My wife and I had some trouble to stop the course of this uproar, and cover their little wounds with fresh earth to allay the smart. Jack, whose temper was on all occasions rash, had struck exactly upon the bees’ nest, and was more severely attacked by them than the rest; it was necessary, so serious was the injury, to cover the whole of his face with linen. The less active Ernest got up the last, and was the first to run off when he saw the consequences, and thus avoided any further injury than a sting or two; but some hours elapsed before the other boys could open their eyes or be in the least relieved from the acute pain that had been inflicted. When they grew a little better, the desire of being avenged of the insects that had so roughly used them had the ascendant in their minds: they teased me to hasten the measures for getting every thing in readiness for obtaining possession of their honey. The bees in the mean time were still buzzing furiously round the tree. I prepared tobacco, a pipe, some clay, chisels, hammers, &c. I took the large gourd long intended for a hive, and I fitted a place for it by nailing a piece of board on a branch of the tree; I made a straw roof for the top to screen it from the sun and rain; and as all this took up more time than I was aware of, we deferred the attack of the fortress to the following day, and got ready for a sound sleep, which completed the cure of my little wounded patients.

CHAPTER XXIX.
Victory over the bees;—winding stair-case; training of various animals; divers manufactures; fountain, &c.

Next morning almost before dawn all were up and in motion; the bees had returned to their cells, and I stopped the passages with clay, leaving only a sufficient aperture for the tube of my pipe. I then smoked as much as was requisite to stupefy without killing the little warlike creatures. Not having a cap with a mask, such as bee-catchers usually wear, nor even gloves, this precaution was necessary. At first a humming was heard in the hollow of the tree, and a noise like a gathering tempest, which died away by degrees. All was become calm, and I withdrew my tube without the appearance of a single bee. Fritz had got up by me: we then began with a chisel and a small axe to cut out of the tree, under the bees’ hole of entrance, a piece three feet square. Before it was entirely separated, I repeated the fumigation, lest the stupefaction produced by the first smoking should have ceased, or the noise we had been just making revived the bees. As soon as I supposed them quite lulled again, I separated from the trunk the piece I had cut out, producing as it were the aspect of a window, through which the inside of the tree was laid entirely open to view; and we were filled at once with joy and astonishment on beholding the immense and wonderful work of this colony of insects. There was such a stock of wax and honey, that we feared our vessels would be insufficient to contain it. The whole interior of the tree was lined with fine honey-combs: I cut them off with care, and put them in the gourds the boys constantly supplied me with. When I had somewhat cleared the cavity, I put the upper combs, in which the bees had assembled in clusters and swarms, into the gourd which was to serve as a hive, and placed it on the plank I had purposely raised. I came down, bringing with me the rest of the honey-combs, with which I filled a small cask, previously well washed in the stream. Some I kept out for a treat at dinner; and had the barrel carefully covered with cloths and planks, that the bees, when attracted by the smell, might be unable to get at it. We then sat round the table, and regaled ourselves plentifully with the delicious and odoriferous treat of the honey. Having finished our meal, my wife put by the remainder; and I proposed to my sons to go back to the tree, in order to prevent the bees from swarming again there on being roused from their stupor, as they would not have failed to do, but for the precaution I took of passing a board at the aperture, and burning a few handfuls of tobacco on it, the smell and smoke of which drove them back from their old abode, whenever they attempted to return to it. At length they desisted from approaching it, and became gradually reconciled to their new residence, where their queen no doubt had settled herself. I took this opportunity to relate to my children all I had read in the interesting work by Mr. Huber of Geneva^[17] of the queen-bee, this beloved and respected mother of her subjects, who are all her children, and who take care of and guard her, work for her, nourish the rising swarms, make the cells in which they are to lodge, prepare others of a different structure, as well as nutriment for the young queens destined to lead forth the fresh colonies: and I entered into all those details which celebrated observers, and particularly the one we have just mentioned, have described so interestingly. These accounts highly entertained my youthful auditory, who almost regretted having molested by their depredation the repose of a fine peaceable kingdom that had flourished so long without interruption in the huge trunk. As to me, it so well suited my intended stair-case, that I readily adopted the prevailing moral amongst conquerors, who dispense with scruples when the seizing a country is convenient to their policy, and I resolved to take full possession next day. In the mean time I advised all to watch during the night, over the whole provision of honey obtained while the bees were torpid, who when recovered would not fail to be troublesome, and come in legions to get back to their property. That we might not be ourselves injured by so much fatigue, we went and threw ourselves on our beds, and in our clothes, to take a short doze before the hour of retreat; we were lulled to sleep with their buzzing, which had quite ceased when we awoke at the coming on of night; they had remained quiet in the gourd or suspended in clusters from some branches: without concerning ourselves about them, we went promptly to business; the cask of honey was emptied into a kettle, except a few prime combs which we kept for daily consumption; the remainder mixed with a little water was set over a gentle fire and reduced to a liquid consistence, strained and squeezed through a bag, and afterwards poured back into the cask, which was left upright and uncovered all night to cool. In the morning the wax was entirely separated, and had risen to the surface in a compact and solid cake that was easily removed; beneath was the purest, most beautiful and delicate honey that could be seen: the cask was then carefully headed again, and put into cool ground near our wine vessels; and now we promised ourselves an abundant supply of an agreeable article for desserts. This task accomplished, I mounted to revisit the hive, and found every thing in order; the bees going forth in swarms and returning loaded with wax, from which I judged they were forming fresh edifices in their new dwelling place. I was surprised to see the numbers that had occupied the trunk of the tree find room in the gourd; but on looking round me, I perceived a part of them collected in a cluster upon a branch, and I thence concluded a young queen was amongst them.

On perceiving this, I procured another gourd, into which I shook them and placed it by the former: thus I had the satisfaction of obtaining at an easy rate two fine hives of bees in activity.

We soon after these operations proceeded to examine the inside of the tree. I sounded it with a pole from the opening I had made towards the top; and a stone fastened to a string served us to sound the bottom, and thus to ascertain the height and depth of the cavity. To my great surprise the pole penetrated without any resistance to the branches on which our dwelling rested, and the stone descended to the roots. The trunk, it appeared, had wholly lost its pith, and most of its wood internally; nothing therefore was more practicable than to fix winding stairs in this capacious hollow, that should reach from top to bottom. It seems that this species of tree, like the willow in our climates, receives nourishment through the bark; for it did not look decayed, and its far-extended branches were luxuriant and beautiful in the extreme. I determined to begin our construction that very day. The undertaking appeared at first beyond our powers; but intelligence, patience, time, and a firm resolution vanquished all obstacles. We were not disposed to relax in any of these requisites; and I was pleased to find opportunities to keep my sons in continual action, and their minds and bodies were all the better for exertion. They grew tall, strong, and were too much engaged to regret, in ignoble leisure, any of their past enjoyments in Europe.

We began to cut into the side of the tree, towards the sea, a door-way equal in dimensions to the door of the captain’s cabin, which we had removed with all its frame-work and windows; by means of which we should at once be guarded against every attack on that side. We next cleared away from the cavity all the rotten wood, and rendered the interior even and smooth, leaving sufficient thickness for cutting out resting-places for the winding stairs, without injuring the bark. I then fixed in the centre, the trunk of a tree ten or twelve feet high and a foot thick, completely stripped of its branches, in order to carry my winding staircase round it: on the outside of this trunk, and the inside of the cavity of our own tree, we formed grooves, so calculated as to correspond with the distances at which the boards were to be placed to form the stairs. These were continued till I had got to the height of the trunk round which they turned. The window I had opened at the top to take out the honey gave light enough. I made a second aperture below, and a third above it, and thus completely lighted the whole ascent. I also effected an opening near our room, that I might more conveniently finish the upper part of the stair-case. A second trunk was fixed upon the first, and firmly sustained with screws and transverse beams. It was surrounded like the other with stairs cut slopingly; and thus we happily effected the stupendous undertaking of conducting it to the level of our bed-chamber. Here I made another door directly into it; and I then found I could add nothing further to my design. If my staircase was not in strict conformity to the rules of architecture, it at least answered the purpose it was built for, that of conducting us with safety and shelter to our nocturnal residence. To render it more solid and agreeable, I closed the spaces between the stairs with plank. I then fastened two strong ropes, the one descending the length of the little tree, the other along the side of the large one, to assist in case of slipping. I fixed the sash-windows taken from the captain’s cabin in the apertures we had made to give light to the stairs; and when the whole was complete, it was so pretty, solid, and convenient, that we were never tired of going up and coming down it; and I fear I must add, for the sake of truth, with no small admiration of our united talents. I must, however, candidly own, that we succeeded in this arduous attempt by mere dint of efforts, patience, industry, and time; for it occupied us for several weeks together with no intermission. It more than once reminded me of the wise system of education of the philosopher of Geneva, J. J. Rousseau; and particularly where he recommends that boys of all classes in society should learn a trade, and especially that of a carpenter. How happy should I have been in our circumstances to have known this trade myself, and to have taught it to my eldest son! I cannot too earnestly exhort all fathers to put their sons in early possession of a resource which, though it may not become of the first necessity, has, at all events, the advantage of making a young man stronger, and more dexterous; of filling up many of the dangerous idle hours of ardent youth; and of being able, in maturer age, if it be unnecessary to work ourselves, at least to overlook the workmen we employ. I am not an enthusiast for the system of Rousseau, though I admire his style and genius; yet if humanity were indebted to him for no more than this sagacious counsel, and the felicity conferred by his maxims on early childhood, it would still suffice to make us love and consider him as a benefactor.

But our new acquisition of a handsome staircase did not exclusively occupy the whole of our time; as in our solitude we had nothing to consider but our own pleasure or convenience, and our daily wants were not subject to the occurrence of other social duties, we saw no occasion for tormenting ourselves with a greater degree of labour in every day than was wholesome for our bodily health. We had no harsh surveyor, no inquisitive examiners; no troublesome neighbours nor counsellors. If we occasionally regretted not being members of a large society under just laws and agreements established between societies of men, we more frequently complimented ourselves on not being subjected to this restraint and the inconveniences that arise from it. If we happened now and then to feel the want of some of the high-wrought pleasures of social existence, we were speedily solaced by reflecting that we did not stand in need of money; that we had no uneasy care about the acquisition of it; that we excited neither envy, pity, nor censure; while the imperfection of our achievements, and the trouble they cost us, were richly compensated by the freedom and cheerfulness with which they were executed, ever without altercation, and with united hearts and souls.

I will briefly narrate the few remarkable occurrences that took place during the construction of our staircase.

A few days after the commencement of our stair-case, the two she-goats gave us two kids, and our ewes five lambs; so that we now saw ourselves in possession of a pretty flock: but lest the domestic animals should follow the example of the ass, and run away from us, I tied a bell to the neck of each. We had found a sufficient number of bells in the vessel, which had been shipped for trading with the savages; it being one of the articles they most value. We could now immediately trace a deserter by the sound, and bring it back to the fold.