It was now time to proceed; and we took a direction towards a point of land which skirted the wood of gourds, and being high commanded a view of the adjacent country. I conceived a wish to remove our establishment to the vicinity of the cotton plantation and the gourd wood, which furnished so many of the utensils for daily use throughout the family. I pleased myself in idea with the view of the different colonies of animals I had imagined, both winged and quadruped, and in this elevation of my fancy I even thought it might be practicable to erect a sort of farm-house on the soil, which we might visit occasionally, and be welcomed by the agreeable sounds of the cackling of our feathered subjects, which would so forcibly remind us of the customs of our forsaken but ever cherished country.
We accordingly soon reached the high ground, which I found in all respects favourable to my design; behind, a thick forest gradually rose above us, which sheltered us from the north wind, and insensibly declined towards the south, ending in a plain clothed luxuriantly with grass, shrubs, and plants, and watered by a refreshing rivulet, which was an incalculable advantage for our animals of every kind as well as for ourselves.
My plan for a building was approved by all, and we lost no time in pitching our tent and forming temporary accommodations for cooking our victuals. When we had refreshed ourselves with a meal, we each took up some useful occupation; my wife and the boys went to work with the cotton, which they thoroughly cleaned and cleared from bits of the pods or other foreign substance, and which was then put into the bags and served commodiously at night for bolsters and mattresses. I for my part resolved to look about in all directions, that I might completely understand what we should have to depend upon in this place in point of safety, salubrity, and general accommodation. I had also to find a tree that would suit for the proposed construction of a boat; and lastly, to meet if possible with a group of trees at such fit distances from each other as would assist me in my plan of erecting my farm. I was fortunate enough in no long time to find in this last respect exactly what I wanted, and quite near to the spot we on many accounts had felt to be so enviable: but I was not equally successful for my boat, the trees in the vicinity being of too small a bulk to supply the depth necessary for keeping on the surface of the water. I returned to my companions, whom I found busily employed in preparing excellent beds of the cotton, upon which at an earlier hour than usual we all retired to rest.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Completion of two farm-houses;—a lake;—the beast with a bill.
The trees that I had chosen for the construction of my farm were for the most part one foot in diameter; their growth was tolerably regular in the form of a parallelogram with its longest side to the sea, the length being twenty four feet, and the breadth sixteen. I cut little hollow places or mortices in the trunks, at the distance of ten feet one above the other, to form two stories; the upper one I made a few inches shorter before than behind, that the roof might be in some degree shelving: I then inserted beams five inches in diameter respectively in the mortices, and thus formed the skeleton of my building. We next nailed some laths from tree to tree, at equal distances from each other, to form the roof, and placed on them, in mathematical order, a covering composed of pieces of the bark of trees cut into the shape of tiles, and in a sloping position for the rain to run off in the wet season. As we had no great provision of iron nails, we used for the purpose the strong pointed thorn of the acacia, which we had discovered the day before. This tree, which bears an elegant flower, is known by the name of Acacia with three thorns, and it in reality exhibits, growing all together, three strong sharp-pointed thorns, which might easily be used as weapons of defence. We cut down a quantity of them and laid them in the sun to dry, when they became as hard as iron, and were of essential service to our undertaking. We found great difficulty in peeling off a sufficient quantity of bark from trees to cover our roof. I began with cutting the bark entirely round at distances of about two feet all the length of the trunk; I next divided the intervals perpendicularly into two parts, which I separated from the tree by sliding a wedge under the corners to raise the bark by degrees; I next placed the pieces on the ground, with stones laid on them to prevent their curving, to dry in the sun; and lastly, I nailed them on the roof, where they had the appearance of the scales of fishes,—an effect that was not only pleasing to the eye, but reminded us of the roofs of our native land.
On this occasion we made another agreeable discovery: my wife took up the remaining chips of the bark for lighting a fire, supposing they would burn easily; we were surprised by a delicious aromatic odour which perfumed the air. On examining the half-consumed substance, we found some of the pieces to contain turpentine, and others gum-mastich, so that we might rely on a supply of these ingredients from the trees which had furnished the bark. It was less with a view to the gratifying our sense of smelling, than with the hope of being able to secure these valuable drugs for making a sort of pitch to complete our meditated boat, that we indulged our earnestness in the pursuit. The instinct of our goats, or the acuteness of their smell, discovered for us another acquisition of a no less pleasing quality; we observed with surprise that they ran from a considerable distance to throw themselves about on some particular chips of bark which lay on the ground, and which they began to chew and eat greedily. Jack seized a piece also, to find out, as he said, what could be the reason of so marked a preference as the goats had shown. Oh, it is indeed excellent, exclaimed he; and I perceive that goats are animals of taste! Only try this little bit, brother Fritz, and tell us if it is not exactly like cinnamon? Fritz did as he was desired, and was of Jack’s opinion. My wife and I then followed their example, and were convinced that it was cinnamon, though not so fine a sort as that from the isle of Ceylon.
This new commodity was certainly of no great importance to us; but we nevertheless regarded it with pleasure, as an article that would serve to distinguish some day of particular rejoicing. Ernest and Francis asked to taste it also, and agreed with us that the occasional use of it would be agreeable. The tree from which we had taken our bark was old, and the cinnamon was no doubt the coarser flavoured on this account: I remembered to have read, that young trees produce this spice in much greater perfection.
During our next meal we amused ourselves with a retrospect of the different discoveries we had made that day. I had to relate to my wife what I knew on the subject of the nature of these new productions; the turpentine, the mastich, and the cinnamon. I informed her that the two first had been discovered by the Venetians, who had gone so far as the islands of ancient Greece in search of them, and that they had afterwards become articles of commerce. And of what use is turpentine? asked Francis.
Father.—It is used in medicine; also for varnishes, and in the composition of resin; by putting it over the fire and mixing a little oil with it, it makes an excellent kind of pitch, and in this last form it will be of essential service to me for the outer coat of my new boat. It is also useful, applied to the wheels of any sort of carriages.
Ernest.—And the mastich, father?