The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Three or four years subsequent to the occurrence of the shipwreck of the pastor and his family, an English transport was driven by the violence of a tempest upon the same shore. The name of the vessel was the Adventurer, Captain Johnson: it was on a voyage from New Zealand to the eastern coast of North America, by Otaheita, in the South Seas to fetch a cargo of skins and furs for China, and to proceed from Canton to England. A violent tempest of several days’ duration drove it from its track. The vessel beat about in unknown seas for many days, and was now so injured by the weather, that the best hope of the captain and his company was to get into some port where they might refit. They at length discovered a rocky coast; and as the wind had somewhat abated, they made with all speed for the shore; when within a short distance, they cast their anchor, and put out a boat containing some of the officers, to examine the coast and find a place for landing: they rowed backward and forward for some time without success, from the rocky nature of the soil; at length they turned a promontory, and perceived a bay whose calm waters seemed to invite their approach; this was the Safety Bay of the wrecked islanders; the boat put on shore, and the officers with astonishment beheld the traces of the abode of man. A handsome well-conditioned pinnace and a small boat were there at anchor: near the strand, under a rock was a tent, and further on, in the rock, a house-door and windows announced European comforts and workmanship. The officers advanced towards the spot, and were met half-way by a man of middle age, dressed like a European and armed with a gun; the stranger accosted them with friendly tones and gestures; he spoke first German, and then some words in English. Lieutenant Bell, one of the English officers, who spoke the German language, answered. A mutual confidence immediately ensued. We need not add, that the stranger was the Family Robinson, whose wife and children happened at the moment to be at Falcon’s Stream:—he had discovered the English ship in the morning with his glass; and unwilling to alarm his family, he had come, perceiving she bore that way, alone to the coast.

After an interchange of cordial feelings, and a hospitable reception of the officers at the grotto, the Swiss pastor put his journal into the hands of Lieutenant Bell, to be conveyed to Captain Johnson, that he also might become acquainted with the story of the solitary islanders. After an hour’s conversation the newly found friends separated, in the pleasing expectation of meeting again on the following day.—But Heaven had otherwise ordained.

During the night the tempest revived with new terrors. The Adventurer could not be held at anchor, but was obliged to steer for safety to the bosom of the ocean. As there was no favourable change of weather for several days, the vessel was driven so far from the coast of Safety Bay, as to leave no possibility of returning, and Captain Johnson was compelled to renounce the gratification of seeing this extraordinary family, or of proposing to convey them all to Europe.

Captain Johnson brought the journal of the Swiss pastor to England, from whence it was transmitted to a friend in Switzerland, who has deemed its contents an instructive lesson to the world. There was found attached to the journal a rough sketch of the features of the island, which Lieutenant Bell thinks the Swiss pastor informed him was executed by his son Fritz.—The editor subjoins it, supposing it will be considered an object worthy of the interest of his young readers.

NOTES.

[*] See the Introduction.

[*] Flamingo is a species of bird between the web-footed genus and the waders; it takes its name from the singular colour of its plumage, being of a bright flame-coloured red. This bird is to be found both in the old and the new continent; in the old continent, only in the southern climates; and in the new, no-where to the north of Carolina. The flamingo is a gregarious animal, frequenting the sea-shore and the marshes occasionally covered by the sea. When the flamingo sets out upon a fishing expedition, the birds range themselves in file, so as, at a distance, to produce the appearance of an extended line of soldiers; nor do they employ this arrangement only when they seek their prey, but also in a state of repose. Sometimes, however, a flamingo may be found alone, or with only a single companion, especially when at a distance from the sea. When drawn up in their military array, there are always sentinels fixed, who, in case of alarm, utter a loud cry capable of being heard at a great distance, and considerably resembling the sound of a trumpet: the sentinel then takes wing, and all the others follow: but whenever it is possible to come upon a flock of flamingoes without being observed by the sentinel, it is easy to pounce upon them and kill a great number. The report of a musket never induces them to take wing, but rather stupifies them; and they remain immovable, with their eyes fixed on the sportsman. They avoid all inhabited places, and live on the small fry of fish, or shell-fish, and on insects that they find in the mud, into which they plunge their long and singular beak. The flamingo builds its nest on the ground, and generally in marshes; they scrape the mud into a heap with their feet, so as to make little hillocks of a conical figure, and a foot and a half in height; the hillock is a little hollowed at the top; and in this hollow the female lays two or three eggs at most, upon which she sits; her legs, which are very long, resting upon the level ground, or plunged Into the water, while with the back part of her body she keeps the eggs in a proper state of warmth. The egg of the flamingo is white, and of the size of a goose’s egg, but more elliptical. The young ones run with inexpressible quickness in a few days after their birth, but do not begin to fly till they have acquired their full size. Their plumage is at first of a pale gray approaching to white; it grows redder as the young flamingo increases in age; but nearly a year elapses before this bird reaches its full stature; at which time it first shews its robe of a brilliant flame colour. The carnation hue first appears on the wing, which is always of the brightest tint; it then extends to the rump, and afterwards shows itself upon the back and breast, and as far as the neck, which is of a delicate rose colour. The flamingo is considered as a delicate morsel for the table, having some resemblance to the partridge in flavour: the tongue, which is very large, is particularly esteemed. They differ in stature, largeness, and colour; but this difference depends upon the age of the animal: when in full growth, the flamingo is more than four feet long from the beak to the tail, and neatly six feet high to the extremity of the talons. The neck and legs are extremely long; the plumage varies in colour on the different parts of the body, from a bright vermilion to a beautiful rose colour, and the legs and feet are of the same tint. There are however a few black feathers in each wing; the beak in some is red, and in others yellow; but the extremity in all is black.

Noueveau Dictionnaire d’Historie Naturelle.

^[1] Penguin; a bird of the goose kind, found near the Straits of Magellan. It is about the size of the Indian cock; the feathers on the back are black, and on the belly white. It has a large neck, circled round with a white collar. Properly speaking, it has no wings, but two pinions hang like two little arms from its sides, having no feathers beyond the joint. These pinions serve the purpose of fins in enabling the penguin to swim with ease, but it cannot fly. The tail is short, the feet black; the beak narrow, and rather larger than that of the raven. The bird carries its head erect in walking, and the pinions fall at its side; so that when many of them are seen in a line along the shore, where they are accustomed to assemble in large numbers, they may from a distance be mistaken for little men. Their flesh is well-tasted, but their skin is so tough that, but for the extreme stupidity of their nature, it would be difficult to destroy them.—See Valmont de Bromare.