The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Father.—That certainly may happen when the process is managed injudiciously, and the flax not duly turned; the risk, however, is not great, the fibrous part has a peculiar tenacity, which enables it to resist longer the action of humidity; flax may be even steeped altogether in water without injury. Many think this the best and quickest method, and I am of their opinion.

My wife coincided with me, especially in the sultry climate we inhabited: she therefore proposed to soak the flax in Flamingo Marsh, and to begin by making up the leaves in bundles, as they do hemp in Europe. We agreed to her proposal, and joined in this previous and necessary preparation of the flax during the rest of the day.

Next morning the ass was put to the small light car, loaded with bundles of leaves; Francis and the monkey sat on them, and the remainder of the family gaily followed with shovels and pickaxes. We stopped at the marsh, divided our large bundles into smaller, which we placed in the water, pressing them down with stones and leaving them in this state till our sovereign should direct us to remove and set them in the sun to dry, and thus render the stems soft and easy to peel. In the course of this work we noticed with admiration the instinct of the flamingoes in building their cone-shaped nests above the level of the marsh, each nest having a recess in the upper part, in which the eggs are securely deposited, while the contrivance enables the female to sit with her legs in the water: the nest is of clay closely cemented, so as to resist all danger from the element till the young can swim.

A fortnight after, my wife told us the flax was sufficiently steeped. We then took it out of the water, and spread it on the grass in the sun, where it dried so well and rapidly that we were able to load it on our cart the same evening, and carry it to Falcon’s Stream, where it was put by till we had time to attend further to it, and make beetles, wheels, reels, carding-combs, &c., as required by our expert and skilful flax-manufacturer. It was thought best to reserve this task for the rainy season, and to get ready what would be then necessary during our confinement within doors. Uninformed as we were as to the duration of this season, it was highly important to lay in a competent stock of provisions for ourselves and for all the animals. Occasional slight showers, the harbingers of winter, had already come on; the temperature, which hitherto had been warm and serene, became gloomy and variable; the sky was often darkened with clouds, the stormy winds were heard, and warned us to avail ourselves of the favourable moment to collect every thing that would be wanted.

Our first care was to dig up a full supply of potatoes and yams for bread, with plenty of cocoa-nuts, and some bags of sweet acorns. It occurred to us while digging, that the ground being thus opened and manured with the leaves of plants, we might sow in it to advantage the remainder of our European corn. Notwithstanding all the delicacies this stranger land afforded us, the force of habit still caused us to long for the bread we had been fed with from childhood: we had not yet laid ourselves out for regular tillage, and I was inclined to attempt the construction of a plough of some sort as soon as we had a sufficient stock of corn for sowing. For this time, therefore, we committed it to the earth with little preparation: the season, however, was proper for sowing and planting, as the ensuing rain would moisten and swell the embryo grain, which otherwise would perish in an arid burning soil. We accordingly expedited the planting of the various palm trees we had discovered in our excursions, at Tent House, carefully selecting the smallest and the youngest. In the environs was formed a large handsome plantation of sugar canes, so as to have hereafter every thing useful and agreeable around us, and thus be dispensed from the usual toil and loss of time in procuring them.

These different occupations kept us several weeks in unremitted activity of mind and body; our cart was incessantly in motion, conveying home our winter stock; time was so precious that we could not even make regular meals, and limited ourselves to bread, cheese, and fruits, in order to shorten them, to return quickly to our work, and dispatch it before the bad season should set in.

Unfortunately, the weather changed sooner than we had expected, and than, with all our care, we could be prepared for; before we had completed our winter establishment, the rain fell in such heavy torrents that little Francis, trembling, asked me whether father Noah’s deluge was coming on again; and I could not myself refrain from painful apprehension in surmising how we should resist such a body of water, that seemed to change the whole face of the country into a perfect lake.

The first thing to be done, and which gave us all sensations of deep concern, was to remove without delay our aërial abode, and to fix our residence at the bottom of the tree, between the roots and under the tarred roof I had erected; for it was no longer possible to remain above, on account of the furious winds that threatened to bear us away, and deluged our beds with rain through the large opening in front, our only protection here being a piece of sail-cloth, which was soon dripping wet and rent to pieces. In this condition we were forced to take down our hammocks, mattresses, and every article that could be injured by the rain; and most fortunate did we deem ourselves in having made the winding stairs, which sheltered us during the operation of the removal. The stairs served afterwards for a kind of lumber-room; we kept all in it we could dispense with, and most of our culinary vessels, which my wife fetched as she happened to want them. Our little sheds between the roots, constructed for the poultry and the cattle, could scarcely contain us all; and the first days we passed in this manner were painfully embarrassing, crowded all together, and hardly able to move in these almost dark recesses, which the fœtid smell from the close-adjoining animals rendered almost insupportable: in addition, we were half stifled with smoke whenever we kindled a fire, and drenched with rain when we opened the doors. For the first time, since our disaster, we sighed for the comfortable houses of our dear country:—but what was to be done! we were not there, and losing our courage and our temper would only increase the evil. I strove to raise the spirits of my companions, and obviate some of the inconveniences. The now doubly-precious winding stair was, as I have said, every way useful to us; the upper part of it was filled with numerous articles that gave us room below; and as it was lighted and sheltered by windows, my wife often worked there, seated on a stair, with her little Francis at her feet. We confined our live-stock to a smaller number, and gave them a freer current of air, dismissing from the stalls those animals that from their properties, and being natives of the country, would be at no loss in providing for themselves. That we might not lose them altogether, we tied bells round their necks; Fritz and I sought and drove them in every evening that they did not spontaneously return. We generally got wet to the skin and chilled with cold, during the employment, which induced my wife to contrive for us a kind of clothing more suitable to the occasion; she took two seamen’s shirts from the chest we had recovered from the wreck; and then, with some pieces of old coats, she made us a kind of cloth hoods joined together at the back, and well formed for covering the head entirely: we melted some elastic gum, which we spread over the shirts and hoods; and the articles thus prepared answered every purpose of water-proof overalls, that were of essential use and comfort to us. Our young rogues were ready with their derision the first time they saw us in them; but afterwards they would have been rejoiced to have had the same: this, however, the reduced state of our gum did not allow, and we contented ourselves with wearing them in turn, when compelled to work in the rain, from the bad effects of which they effectually preserved us.

As to the smoke, our only remedy was to open the door when we made a fire; and we did without as much as we could, living on milk and cheese, and never making a fire but to bake our cakes: we then availed ourselves of the opportunity to boil a quantity of potatoes and salt meat enough to last us a number of days. Our dry wood was also nearly expended, and we thanked Heaven the weather was not very cold; for had this been the case our other trials would have much increased. A more serious concern was our not having provided sufficient hay and leaves for our European cattle, which we necessarily kept housed to avoid losing them; the cow, the ass, the sheep, and the goats, the two last of which were increased in number, required a large quantity of provender, so that we were ere long forced to give them our potatoes and sweet acorns, which by the by they found very palatable, and we remarked that they imparted a delicate flavour to their milk;—the cow, the goats, and even the sheep, amply supplied us with that precious article: milking, cleaning the animals and preparing their food, occupied us most of the morning, after which we were usually employed in making flour of the manioc root, with which we filled the large gourds, which were previously placed in rows. The gloom of the atmosphere and our low windowless habitation sensibly abridged our daylight; fortunately, we had laid in a huge store of candles, and felt no want of that article: when darkness obliged us to light up, we got round the table, when a large taper fixed on a gourd gave us an excellent light, which enabled my wife to pursue her occupation with the needle, while I, on my part, was forming a journal and recording what the reader has perused of the narrative of our shipwreck and residence in this island, assisted from time to time by my sons and their admirable mother, who did not cease to remind me of various incidents belonging to the story. To Ernest, who wrote a fine hand, was intrusted the care of writing off my pages in a clear legible character; Fritz and Jack amused themselves by drawing from memory the plants and animals which had most struck their observation; while one and all contributed to teach little Francis to read and write: we concluded the day with a devotional reading in the Holy Bible, performed by each in turn, and we then retired to rest, happy in ourselves, and in the innocent and peaceful course of our existence. Our kind and faithful steward often surprised us agreeably on our return from looking after the cattle, by lighting up a faggot of dried bamboo, and quickly roasting by the clear and fervent heat it produced, a chicken, pigeon, duck, or penguin from our poultry-yard, or some of the thrushes we had preserved in butter, which were excellent, and welcomed as a treat to reward extraordinary toil. Every four or five days the kind creature made us new fresh butter in the gourd-churn; and this with some deliciously fragrant honey spread on our manioc cakes, formed a collation that would have raised the envy of European epicures. These unexpected regales represented to our grateful hearts so many little festivals, the generous intention of which made us forget our bad accommodations and confinement.

The fragments of our meals belonged in right to our domestic animals, as part of the family. We had now four dogs, the young jackal, the eagle, and the monkey, to feed; they relied with just confidence on the kindness of their respective masters, who certainly would have deprived themselves to supply the wants of their helpless dependents. Francis had taken under his mighty protection the two little bull-dogs; my wife Ponto, and I the brave Turk:—thus each had his attendant, of which he took care, and no one was dispensed from the offices of tenderness and vigilance. If the buffalo, the onagra, and pig had not found sustenance abroad, they must have been killed or starved, and that would have given us much pain. In the course of these discomforts it was unanimously resolved on, that we would not pass another rainy season exposed to the same evils; even my beloved consort, who felt such a predilection for the abode at Falcon’s Stream, was frequently a little ruffled and out of temper with our inconvenient situation, and insisted more than any of us on the propriety of building elsewhere a more spacious winter residence: she wished, however, to return to our castle in the tree every summer, and we all joined with her in that desire. The choice of a fresh abode now engrossed our attention, and Fritz in the midst of consultation came forward triumphantly with a book he had found in the bottom of our clothes’ chest. Here, said he, is our best counsellor and model, Robinson Crusoe; since Heaven has destined us to a similar fate, whom better can we consult? as far as I remember, he cut himself an habitation out of the solid rock: let us see how he proceeded; we will do the same and with greater ease, for he was alone; we are six in number, and four of us able to work. Well spoken, son, said I: this activity and courage give me pleasure; let us then strive to be as ingenious as Robinson Crusoe.