CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
CASTLE-HILL.
THE NOONDAY HALT--A CHARMING RESTING-PLACE--HEATHEN SKILL VERSUSCIVILISATION AND THE STORY-BOOKS.
"Beneath the tropic rays, Where not a shadow breaks the boundless blaze, Earth from her lap perennial verdure pours, Ambrosial fruits, and amaranthine flowers."
A little way before us rose a smooth and gentle acclivity, crowned by aclump of majestic trees, which promised to afford a deeper and moregrateful shade than any other spot in sight, and we accordingly madetowards it. On a nearer approach it proved to be more elevated than hadat first appeared, and in order to reach the top, we were obliged toscale a long series of natural terraces, almost as regular as thoughthey had been the work of art. From this spot there was a fine view ofthe shore, the lagoon, and the ocean, to the north and west. The treesthat covered the level space at the summit of the ascent, were varietiesof a much larger growth than those generally found on the low alluvialstrip of land bordering the lagoon. Conspicuous among them, were themajestic candle-nut, with its white leaves and orange-coloured blossoms;the inocarpus, a kind of tropical chestnut; and most magnificent andimposing of all, a stately tree, resembling the magnolia in its foliageand manner of growth, and thickly covered with large white flowers,edged with a delicate pink. The ground was level as a parlour floor,and free from brushwood or undergrowth of any kind, except a fewlong-leaved, fragrant ferns, and in places a thick carpet of floweringvines and creepers. The trees were stationed at such distances apart,as to compose a fine open grove, and yet close enough to unite in onerich mass of foliage overhead, impenetrable to the rays of the sun, andcreating a sombre and almost gloomy shade, even during the fiercestglare of noonday. In one spot, a number of gigantic trees were groupednearly in a circle. Their dense tops formed a leafy dome, through whichnot the smallest patch of sky was visible. Around their huge, butshapely, stems, which one might look upon as forming the pillars of anatural temple, a number of flowering parasites twined in luxuriantwreaths, and hung in festoons from the tower branches. A considerablespace around the boles of some of these trees was completely covered byan elegant species of creeping plant with fine cut foliage of a delicatepea-green, and large clusters of scarlet blossoms, about which, swarmsof brilliantly-coloured insects, of the butterfly tribe, were hovering.
"Here we may actually, and not figuratively, indulge in the luxury of`reposing on the beds of flowers,'" said Max, throwing himself down atthe foot of a towering candle-nut, amid a soft mass of this vegetablecarpeting. All were sufficiently tired by the long march of themorning, to appreciate the luxury, and our entire company was soonstretched upon the ground, in attitudes in which comfort rather thangrace, was consulted.
"What do you think of this, Johnny?" said Max, "it strikes me, as beingquite romantic and like the story-books--almost up to the ArabianNights. If the history of our adventures should ever be written, (andwhy shouldn't it be?) here's material for a _flowery_ passage. Just seehow this would sound, for instance:--`And now our little band oftoil-worn castaways,' (that's us), `weary and faint with theirwanderings through the desert, (that's Cape Desolation, or Sea-bird'sPoint, or whatever Johnny in his wisdom shall conclude to call it),arrived at a little oasis, (this is it), a green spot in the wilderness,blooming like the bowers of Paradise, where stretched at ease, upon bedsof bright and odoriferous flowers, they reposed from the fatigues oftheir journey.' There, that sentence, I flatter myself is equal inharmony and effect, to the opening one in the history of Rasselas,Prince of Abyssinia--there's my idea of the style in which ouradventures should be recorded."
As we had taken no refreshment since setting out in the morning, we nowbegan to feel the need of it. At the edge of the eminence, on thesouthern side, grew several large cocoa-nut trees, fully three feet indiameter at the base, and rising to the height of seventy or eighty feetat the very least. Eiulo was the only one of our number, who would havedreamed of undertaking to climb either of them; he, however, afterfinding a young purau, and providing himself with a strip of the bark,fastened the ends about his ankles, and then firmly clasping the trunkof one of the trees with his hands and feet alternately, the latterbeing as wide apart as the ligature would permit, he vaulted rapidly andeasily upward, and soon gained the dizzy height where the nuts grew.Once fairly perched in the tuft of the tree among the stems of theenormous leaves, where he looked scarcely larger than a monkey, hequickly supplied us with as many cocoa-nuts as we could put to presentuse. Loading ourselves with the fruit, we returned to our firstresting-place, and after piling the nuts in a heap, reclined around it,after the manner of the ancients at their banquets, while we enjoyed ourrepast. Though all these nuts were gathered from the same tree, and, infact, from the same cluster, some of them contained nothing but liquid,the kernel not having yet begun to form, and in these the milk was mostabundant and delicious: in others, a soft, jelly-like, transparent pulp,delicate and well-flavoured, had commenced forming on the inner shell:in others, again, this pulp had become thicker and firmer, and more likethe kernel of the imported nut, the milk having diminished in quantity,and lost in a great measure its agreeable taste.
Johnny, after having tried all the different varieties with the zeal ofan epicure, declared that he was beginning to get sick of cocoa-nuts: hewondered whether we should have to live entirely on cocoa-nuts andshell-fish, and whether there was not some bread-fruit on the island.
"If there is," said Browne, "it will be of no use to us, unless we canfind means to make a fire, and cook it."
"Make a fire!" cried Johnny, "that's easy enough--all we've got to do,is just to get two dry sticks and rub them together briskly for a fewminutes. None of the shipwrecked people I ever read of, had any troubleabout that."
"How lucky we are," cried Max, gravely, "in having some one with us, whohas read all about all the desert islanders that have ever lived, andcan tell us just what to do in an emergency! Please get a couple ofthose dry sticks which you speak of, Johnny, and show us how unfortunatecastaways in our condition, are accustomed to kindle a fire."
Without seeming, in the simplicity of his heart, to suspect for a momentthe perfect good faith and sincerity of Max's compliment, Johnnycommenced casting about for some sticks or pieces of wood, with which tomake the experiment. He soon found a fallen branch of the inocarpus,well baked by the sun, and which had long lost every particle ofmoisture. Breaking it into two pieces, he began to rub them togetherwith great zeal, and apparently with perfect faith in the result:gradually he increased his exertions, manifesting a commendableperseverance, until the bark began to fly, and the perspiration tostream down his face; but still there was no fire, nor any sign of it.
Meantime, Max encouraged him to proceed.
"Keep it a-going, Johnny!" he cried, "if you stop for half a second, youlose all your labour; only persevere, and you're sure to succeed; noneof the shipwrecked people you ever read of had any trouble about it, youknow."
But Johnny concluded that the sticks could not be of the right kind, andnotwithstanding Max's exhortations, he at last gave up the attempt.
Morton, however, not discouraged by this unfortunate result, nor byMax's disposition to make fun of the experiment expressed a belief thatthe thing could be done, and after preparing the sticks by cutting awayone of the rounded sides of each, he went to work with an earnestnessand deliberation, that caused us to augur favourably of his success.After nearly ten minutes powerful and incessant friction, the sticksbegan to smoke, and Johnny, tossing his cap into the air, gave anexulting "Hurrah!"
But his rejoicing proved premature, for, though the wood fairly smoked,that was the utmost that could be attained, and Morton was obliged todesist, without having produced a flame.
Eiulo had been watching these proceedings with great interest; and henow intimated by signs that he would make a trial. Taking the sticks,he cut one of them to a point, with Arthur's knife, and made a smallgroove along the flat surface of the other, which he then placed witho
ne end upon the ground, and the other against his breast, the groovedside being upwards. Placing the point of the first stick in the groove,he commenced moving it up and down along the second, pressing them hardtogether. The motion was at first slow and regular, but increasedconstantly in rapidity. By-and-bye the wood began to smoke again, andthen Eiulo continued the operation with greater vigour than ever. Atlength a fine dust, which had collected at the lower extremity of thegroove, actually took fire; Arthur quickly inserted the edge of asun-dried cocoa-nut leaf in the tiny flame, and it was instantly in ablaze.
"Bravo!" shouted Max, "that's what I consider a decided triumph ofheathenism over civilisation, and the story-books."
Morton now seized the sticks again, and imitating Eiulo's method ofproceeding, succeeded in kindling them, though it took him aconsiderable time to do it: thus it was satisfactorily established, byactual experiment, that we could obtain a fire whenever we should wantone.
The question was now raised, whether we should continue our explorationfurther that day, or remain where we were until the following morning;and as the heat was still very oppressive, and we were sufficientlytired already, the latter course was unanimously determined upon.
Johnny liked the spot which we occupied so well, that he proposed"building a hut" upon it, and making it our head-quarters, as long as weshould have to stay on the island. It was certainly a pleasant site;and, commanding as it did a wide view of the ocean, vessels could bedescried at a greater distance, and signalled with a surer prospect ofattracting notice, than from any other locality yet known to us. Fromthe wooded summit, the land descended on every side--towards the shorein a series of terraces--towards the interior in one smooth andcontinuous slope, after which it again rose in a succession of denselywooded eminences, irregular and picturesque in their outlines, and eachhigher than the last as you proceeded inland; the farthest of themtowering up in strong relief against the south-eastern sky. The variousshades of the masses of different kinds of foliage, with which theseheights were clothed, from that of the pale-leaved candle-nut, to thesombre green of the bread-fruit groves, contributed greatly to thepleasing effect of the landscape. On the right, as you looked towardsthe ocean, lay the flat tract, occupied by the sea-fowl, and whichJohnny had named after them. At nearly an equal distance on the left,the line of the beach was broken, by what appeared to be a small grove,or clump of trees, detached from the main forest, and planted directlyon the line of the shore.
As we had concluded to suspend our explorations until the next day,every one was left to his own resources for the remainder of theafternoon. Johnny having set Morton at work, to make him a bow, "toshoot birds with," began to occupy himself in the very important task offinding an appropriate name for the height, which he finally concludedto call "Castle-Hill," from its regular shape and bold steep outlines.Max extended himself on his back in the coolest nook he could find, andspreading his handkerchief over his face, to protect it from the gaudy,but troublesome, winged insects which haunted the spot, forbade any oneto disturb him on pain of his high displeasure. Arthur, taking Eiulowith him, proceeded upon a botanising tour about the neighbourhood, inthe hope of making some discovery that might prove useful to us. For myown part, happening to think of the question which had been started inthe morning, as to the day of the week, I began to make a retrospect ofall that had taken place since the fearful night of the mutiny, and toendeavour to fix the order of subsequent events, so as to arrive at thenumber of days we had been at sea, and upon the island. In the courseof these calculations, and while Browne and myself were discussing thematter, he suggested the want of pencil and paper. I found that thelast leaf had been torn from my pocket-book, and the rest were in anequally destitute condition. In this strait, I remembered having heardArthur describe the manner in which the native children had been taughtto write in the missionary schools at Eimeo, the only materials usedbeing plantain leaves and a pointed stick. I mentioned this to Browne,and we forthwith proceeded to experiment with different kinds of leaves,until at last we found a large heart-shaped one, which answered ourpurpose admirably; it was white, and soft as velvet on the under side,and marks made upon it with the rounded point of a small stick, wereperfectly distinct, showing of a dark green colour upon a white ground.
Late in the afternoon, Arthur and Eiulo returned from their tour ofexamination, having made, as Arthur intimated, some discoveries, ofwhich, in due time, we should all reap the benefit. Morton having founda tough and elastic kind of wood, had shaped a tolerable bow for Johnny,when it came to providing a string, the resources of both failed. Thedifficulty being made known to Eiulo, he volunteered to supply what waswanted, and went with Johnny and Morton into the adjoining forest tolook for a certain kind of bark, from which to make the required cord.
"There!" said Arthur, when we were left alone together; "how capitallythis excursion has worked. How differently things seem from what theydid yesterday, when we were at the islet, perfectly stagnant and stupid.One would not take us for the same people. Only let us always havesomething to do, something to interest and busy ourselves about, and weneed not be very miserable, even on a desert island."
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