Fritz's interesting story being ended, and supper ready, we made trial of the new roots, and found them very palatable, either boiled or stewed; the monkey plant, however, if it really proved to be the ginseng of the Chinese, would require to be used with caution, being of an aromatic and heating nature.
We resolved to transplant a supply of both roots to our kitchen garden.
CHAPTER X
THE WAR WITH THE APES—OUR HOME IN THE SALT PALACE
On the following morning we were early astir; and as soon as breakfast was over, we went regularly to work with the birdlime. The tough, adhesive mixture of caoutchouc, oil, and turpentine turned out well.
The boys brought rods, which I smeared over, and made them place among the upper branches, where the fruit was plentiful, and the birds most congregated.
The prodigious number of the pigeons, far beyond those of last year, reminded me that we had not then, as now, witnessed their arrival at their feeding-places, but had seen only the last body of the season, a mere party of stragglers, compared to the masses which now weighed down the branches of all the trees in the neighborhood.
The sweet acorns of the evergreen oaks were also patronized; large flocks were there congregated; and from the state of the ground under the trees it was evident that at night they roosted on the branches. Seeing this, I determined to make a raid upon them by torchlight, after the manner of the colonists in Virginia.
Meantime, the birdlime acted well: the pigeons alighting, stuck fast. The more they fluttered and struggled, the more completely were they bedaubed with the tenacious mixture, and at length, with piteous cries, fell to the ground, bearing the sticks with them. The birds were then removed, fresh lime spread, and the snare set again.