The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Father.—This production comes from a tree of the same name; it oozes out in drops and hardens in the sun, something like amber. It is used in perfumes, and as a varnish for porcelain, being soluble in spirits of wine. As to cinnamon, I can only tell you that the best sort is a production of the island of Ceylon; it is gathered from young plants; the outside covering being first taken away, the next coat is the perfect cinnamon, and its smell is quite delicious; it is put to dry in the sun, and it rolls of itself into the shapes in which you must have seen it; they are afterwards tied in small parcels and sewed into cotton bags, which are again inclosed in reed matting; lastly, the parcels are put into buffalos’ skins, which are as hard and as impenetrable as horn. By this process the cinnamon is so effectually preserved, that it may be safely transported to any distance. It is used in Europe for imparting a delicious flavour to the more delicate kinds of liqueurs and sweetmeats.

When our meal and the lecture were both ended, we resumed with ardour our undertaking of the farm, which we continued without interruption for several days.

We formed the walls of our building with matted reeds interwoven with pliant laths to the height of six feet; the remaining space to the roof was inclosed with only a simple grating, that the air and light might be admitted. A door was placed in the middle of the front. We next arranged the interior, with as much convenience as the shortness of the time and our reluctance to use all our timber would allow; we divided it half way up by a partition wall, into two unequal parts; the largest was intended for the sheep and goats, and the smallest for ourselves, when we should wish to pass a few days here. At the further end of the stable we fixed a house for the fowls, and above it a sort of hay-loft for the forage. Before the door of entrance we placed two benches, contrived as well as we could of laths and odd pieces of wood, that we might rest ourselves under the shade of the trees, and enjoy the exquisite prospect which presented itself on all sides. Our own apartment was provided with a couple of the best bedsteads we could make of twigs of trees, raised upon four legs two feet from the ground, and these were destined to receive our cotton mattresses. Our aim was to content ourselves for the present with these slight hints of a dwelling, and to consider hereafter what additions either of convenience or ornament could be made, such as plastering, &c. &c. All we were now anxious about, was to provide a shelter for our animal colonists, which should encourage and fix them in the habit of assembling every evening in one place. For several days, at first, we took care to fill their troughs with their favourite food mixed with salt, and we agreed that we would return frequently to repeat this indirect mode of invitation for their society, till they should be entirely fixed in their expectation of finding it.

I had imagined we could accomplish what we wished at the farm in three or four days; but we found in the experiment that a whole week was necessary, and our victuals fell short before our work was done. We began to consider what remedy we could apply to so embarrassing a circumstance; I could not prevail upon myself to return to Falcon’s Stream before I had completed my intentions at the farm, and the other objects of my journey. I had even come to the determination of erecting another building upon the site of Cape Disappointment; I therefore decided that on this trying occasion I would invest Fritz and Jack with the important mission. They were accordingly dispatched to Falcon’s Stream and to Tent-House, to fetch new supplies of cheese, ham, potatoes, dried fish, manioc bread, for our subsistence, and also to distribute fresh food to the numerous animals we had left there. I directed one to mount the onagra, and the other the buffalo. My two knight-errants, proud of their embassy, set off with a brisk trot; they at my desire took with them the old ass to bring the load of provisions. Fritz was to lead him with a bridle, while Jack smacked a whip near his ears to quicken his motions; and certainly, whether from the influence of climate or the example of his companion the onagra, he had lost much of his accustomed inactivity: and this was the more important, as I intended to make a saddle for my wife to get on his back and relieve herself occasionally from the fatigue of walking.

During the absence of our purveyors, I rambled with Ernest about the neighbouring soil, to make what new discoveries I could, and to procure if possible some cocoa-nuts or other valuable addition to our store of provisions.

We followed the winding of a river we had remarked, and which conducted towards the centre of the wall of rocks; our course was here interrupted by an extensive marsh which bordered a small lake, the aspect of which was enchantingly picturesque. I perceived with joyful surprise that the whole surface of this swampy soil was covered with a kind of wild rice, ripe on the stalk, and which attracted the voracity of large flocks of birds. As we approached, a loud rustling was heard, and we distinguished on the wing bustards, Canada heath-fowl in abundance, and great numbers of smaller birds, with the names of which we were unacquainted. We succeeded in bringing down five or six of them, and I was pleased to remark in Ernest a justness of aim that promised well for the future. The habits of his mind discovered themselves on this as on many previous occasions; he betrayed no ardour, he did every thing with a slowness that seemed to imply dislike; yet the cool deliberation and constancy he applied to every attempt he had to engage in, so effectually assisted his judgement, that he was sure to arrive at a more perfect execution than the other boys. He had practised but little in the study of how to fire a gun to the best advantage; but Ernest was a silent inquirer and observer, and accordingly his first essays were generally crowned with success. In this affair, however, of the birds, his skill would have proved fruitless, if Jack’s young jackal, which had followed us in our walk, had not plunged courageously into the swamp and brought out the birds as they fell.

At a small distance was also master Knips, who had taken his post on Ponto’s back. Presently we saw him jump off and smell earnestly along the ground among some thick-growing plants, then pluck off something with his two paws and eat of it voraciously. We ran to the spot to see what it could be, when, to the infinite relief of our parched palates, we found he had discovered there the largest and finest kind of strawberry, which is called in Europe the Chili or pine strawberry.

On this occasion the proud creature, man, generously condescended to be the imitator of a monkey: we threw ourselves upon the ground, as near to Knips as we could creep, and devoured as fast as we could swallow, till we felt sufficiently refreshed. Many of these strawberries were of an enormous size, and Ernest with his usual coolness, and I must needs confess there was no want of his constancy either, devoured an immense quantity: he however recollected his absent friends, and filled a small gourd-shell we had brought with us with the finest fruit, and then covered them with leaves and tied them down with a tendril from a neighbouring plant, that he might present them in perfection to his mother. I, on my part, gathered a specimen of the rice to offer, that she might inform us if it was fit for culinary purposes.

After pursuing our way a little further along the marsh, we reached the lake, which we had descried with so much pleasure from a distance, and whose banks being overgrown with thick underwood, were necessarily concealed from the momentary view we had leisure to take of surrounding objects, particularly as the lake was situated in a deep and abrupt valley. No traveller who is not a native of Switzerland can conceive the emotion which trembled at my heart, as I contemplated this limpid, azure, undulating, body of water, the faithful miniature of so many grand originals, which I had probably lost sight of for ever! My eyes swam with tears!—How glad I am to see a lake! I could almost think myself in Switzerland, father, said Ernest.

Alas, a single glance upon the surrounding pictures, the different characters of the trees, the vast ocean in the distance, destroyed the momentary illusion, and brought back our ideas to the painful reality that we were strangers in a desert island!