The Coral Island

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER SIX.

  AN EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR IN WHICH WE MAKE MANY VALUABLE ANDINTERESTING DISCOVERIES--WE GET A DREADFUL FRIGHT--THE BREAD-FRUITTREE--WONDERFUL PECULIARITY OF SOME OF THE FRUIT-TREES--SIGNS OF FORMERINHABITANTS.

  Our first care, after breakfast, was to place the few articles wepossessed in the crevice of a rock at the farther end of a small cavewhich we discovered near our encampment. This cave, we hoped, might beuseful to us afterwards as a storehouse. Then we cut two large clubsoff a species of very hard tree which grew near at hand. One of thesewas given to Peterkin, the other to me, and Jack armed himself with theaxe. We took these precautions because we purposed to make an excursionto the top of the mountains of the interior, in order to obtain a betterview of our island. Of course we knew not what dangers might befall usby the way, so thought it best to be prepared.

  Having completed our arrangements and carefully extinguished our fire,we sallied forth and walked a short distance along the sea-beach till wecame to the entrance of a valley, through which flowed the rivuletbefore mentioned. Here we turned our backs on the sea and struck intothe interior.

  The prospect that burst upon our view on entering the valley was trulysplendid. On either side of us there was a gentle rise in the land,which thus formed two ridges, about a mile apart, on each side of thevalley. These ridges--which, as well as the low grounds between them,were covered with trees and shrubs of the most luxuriant kind--continuedto recede inland for about two miles, when they joined the foot of asmall mountain. This hill rose rather abruptly from the head of thevalley, and was likewise entirely covered, even to the top, with trees--except on one particular spot near the left shoulder, where was a bareand rocky place of a broken and savage character. Beyond this hill wecould not see, and we therefore directed our course up the banks of therivulet towards the foot of it, intending to climb to the top, shouldthat be possible--as, indeed, we had no doubt it was.

  Jack, being the wisest and boldest among us, took the lead, carrying theaxe on his shoulder. Peterkin, with his enormous club, came second, ashe said he should like to be in a position to defend me if any dangershould threaten. I brought up the rear; but having been more taken upwith the wonderful and curious things I saw at starting than withthoughts of possible danger, I had very foolishly left my club behindme. Although, as I have said, the trees and bushes were very luxuriant,they were not so thickly crowded together as to hinder our progressamong them. We were able to wind in and out, and to follow the banks ofthe stream quite easily, although, it is true, the height and thicknessof the foliage prevented us from seeing far ahead. But sometimes ajutting-out rock on the hillsides afforded us a position whence we couldenjoy the romantic view and mark our progress towards the foot of thehill. I was particularly struck, during the walk, with the richness ofthe undergrowth in most places, and recognised many berries and plantsthat resembled those of my native land, especially a tall, elegantlyformed fern, which emitted an agreeable perfume. There were severalkinds of flowers, too; but I did not see so many of these as I shouldhave expected in such a climate. We also saw a great variety of smallbirds of bright plumage, and many paroquets similar to the one, thatawoke Peterkin so rudely in the morning.

  Thus we advanced to the foot of the hill without encountering anythingto alarm us, except, indeed, once, when we were passing close under apart of the hill which was hidden from our view by the broad leaves ofthe banana-trees, which grew in great luxuriance in that part. Jack wasjust preparing to force his way through this thicket when we werestartled and arrested by a strange pattering or rumbling sound, whichappeared to us quite different from any of the sounds we had heardduring the previous part of our walk.

  "Hallo!" cried Peterkin, stopping short, and grasping his club with bothhands; "what's that?"

  Neither of us replied; but Jack seized his axe in his right hand, whilewith the other he pushed aside the broad leaves and endeavoured to peeramongst them.

  "I can see nothing," he said after a short pause. "I think it--"

  Again the rumbling sound came, louder than before, and we all sprangback and stood on the defensive. For myself, having forgotten my club,and not having taken the precaution to cut another, I buttoned myjacket, doubled my fists, and threw myself into a boxing attitude. Imust say, however, that I felt somewhat uneasy; and my companionsafterwards confessed that their thoughts at this moment had beeninstantly filled with all they had ever heard or read of wild beasts andsavages, torturings at the stake, roastings alive, and such-likehorrible things. Suddenly the pattering noise increased with tenfoldviolence. It was followed by a fearful crash among the bushes, whichwas rapidly repeated, as if some gigantic animal were bounding towardsus. In another moment an enormous rock came crashing through theshrubbery, followed by a cloud of dust and small stones, and flew closepast the spot where we stood, carrying bushes and young trees along withit.

  "Pooh! is that all?" exclaimed Peterkin, wiping the perspiration off hisforehead. "Why, I thought it was all the wild men and beasts in theSouth Sea Islands, galloping on in one grand charge to sweep us off theface of the earth, instead of a mere stone tumbling down themountain-side!"

  "Nevertheless," remarked Jack, "if that same stone had hit any of us itwould have rendered the charge you speak of quite unnecessary,Peterkin."

  This was true, and I felt very thankful for our escape. On examiningthe spot more narrowly, we found that it lay close to the foot of a veryrugged precipice, from which stones of various sizes were alwaystumbling at intervals. Indeed, the numerous fragments lying scatteredall round might have suggested the cause of the sound had we not beentoo suddenly alarmed to think of anything.

  We now resumed our journey, resolving that, in our future excursionsinto the interior, we would be careful to avoid this dangerousprecipice.

  Soon afterwards we arrived at the foot of the hill, and prepared toascend it. Here Jack made a discovery which caused us all very greatjoy. This was a tree of a remarkably beautiful appearance, which Jackconfidently declared to be the celebrated bread-fruit tree.

  "Is it celebrated?" inquired Peterkin with a look of great simplicity.

  "It is," replied Jack.

  "That's odd, now," rejoined Peterkin; "I never heard of it before."

  "Then it's not so celebrated as I thought it was," returned Jack,quietly squeezing Peterkin's hat over his eyes; "but listen, youignorant boobie! and hear of it now."

  Peterkin readjusted his hat, and was soon listening with as muchinterest as myself while Jack told us that this tree is one of the mostvaluable in the islands of the south; that it bears two, sometimesthree, crops of fruit in the year; that the fruit is very like wheatenbread in appearance, and that it constitutes the principal food of manyof the islanders.

  "So," said Peterkin, "we seem to have everything ready prepared to ourhands in this wonderful island--lemonade ready bottled in nuts, andloaf-bread growing on the trees!"

  Peterkin, as usual, was jesting; nevertheless, it is a curious fact thathe spoke almost the literal truth.

  "Moreover," continued Jack, "the bread-fruit tree affords a capital gum,which serves the natives for pitching their canoes; the bark of theyoung branches is made by them into cloth; and of the wood, which isdurable and of a good colour, they build their houses. So you see,lads, that we have no lack of material here to make us comfortable, ifwe are only clever enough to use it."

  "But are you sure that that's it?" asked Peterkin.

  "Quite sure," replied Jack; "for I was particularly interested in theaccount I once read of it, and I remember the description well. I amsorry, however that I have forgotten the descriptions of many othertrees which I am sure we have seen to-day, if we could but recognisethem. So you see, Peterkin, I'm not up to everything yet."

  "Never mind, Jack," said Peterkin with a grave, patronising expressionof countenance, patting his tall companion on the shoulder--"never mind,Jack; you know a good deal for your age. You're a clever boy, sir--apromi
sing young man; and if you only go on as you have begun, sir, youwill--"

  The end of this speech was suddenly cut short by Jack tripping upPeterkin's heels and tumbling him into a mass of thick shrubs, where,finding himself comfortable, he lay still, basking in the sunshine,while Jack and I examined the bread-fruit tree.

  We were much struck with the deep, rich green colour of its broadleaves, which were twelve or eighteen inches long, deeply indented, andof a glossy smoothness, like the laurel. The fruit, with which it wasloaded, was nearly round, and appeared to be about six inches indiameter, with a rough rind, marked with lozenge-shaped divisions. Itwas of various colours, from light pea-green to brown and rich yellow.Jack said that the yellow was the ripe fruit. We afterwards found thatmost of the fruit-trees on the island were evergreens, and that wemight, when we wished, pluck the blossom and the ripe fruit from thesame tree. Such a wonderful difference from the trees of our owncountry surprised us not a little. The bark of the tree was rough andlight-coloured; the trunk was about two feet in diameter, and itappeared to be twenty feet high, being quite destitute of branches up tothat height, where it branched off into a beautiful and umbrageous head.We noticed that the fruit hung in clusters of twos and threes on thebranches; but as we were anxious to get to the top of the hill, werefrained from attempting to pluck any at that time.

  Our hearts were now very much cheered by our good fortune, and it waswith light and active steps that we clambered up the steep sides of thehill. On reaching the summit a new, and if possible a grander, prospectmet our gaze. We found that this was not the highest part of theisland, but that another hill lay beyond, with a wide valley between itand the one on which we stood. This valley, like the first, was alsofull of rich trees--some dark and some light green, some heavy and thickin foliage, and others light, feathery, and graceful, while thebeautiful blossoms on many of them threw a sort of rainbow tint overall, and gave to the valley the appearance of a garden of flowers.Among these we recognised many of the bread-fruit trees, laden withyellow fruit, and also a great many cocoa-nut palms. After gazing ourfill we pushed down the hillside, crossed the valley, and soon began toascend the second mountain. It was clothed with trees nearly to thetop; but the summit was bare, and in some places broken.

  While on our way up we came to an object which filled us with muchinterest. This was the stump of a tree that had evidently been cut downwith an axe! So, then, we were not the first who had viewed thisbeautiful isle. The hand of man had been at work there before us. Itnow began to recur to us again that perhaps the island was inhabited,although we had not seen any traces of man until now. But a secondglance at the stump convinced us that we had not more reason to think sonow than formerly; for the surface of the wood was quite decayed andpartly covered with fungus and green matter, so that it must have beencut many years ago.

  "Perhaps," said Peterkin, "some ship or other has touched here long agofor wood, and only taken one tree."

  We did not think this likely, however, because, in such circumstances,the crew of a ship would cut wood of small size and near the shore;whereas this was a large tree, and stood near the top of the mountain.In fact, it was the highest large tree on the mountain, all above itbeing wood of very recent growth.

  "I can't understand it," said Jack, scratching the surface of the stumpwith his axe. "I can only suppose that the savages have been here andcut it for some purpose known only to themselves. But, hallo! what havewe here?"

  As he spoke Jack began carefully to scrape away the moss and fungus fromthe stump, and soon laid bare three distinct traces of marks, as if someinscription or initials had been cut thereon. But although the traceswere distinct, beyond all doubt, the exact form of the letters could notbe made out. Jack thought they looked like JS, but we could not becertain. They had apparently been carelessly cut, and long exposure tothe weather had so broken them up that we could not make out what theywere. We were exceedingly perplexed at this discovery, and stayed along time at the place conjecturing what these marks could have been,but without avail; so, as the day was advancing, we left it, and quicklyreached the top of the mountain.

  We found this to be the highest point of the island, and from it we sawour kingdom lying, as it were, like a map around us. As I have alwaysthought it impossible to get a thing properly into one's understandingwithout comprehending it, I shall beg the reader's patience for a littlewhile I describe our island, thus, shortly:

  It consisted of two mountains: the one we guessed at five hundred feet;the other, on which we stood, at one thousand. Between these lay arich, beautiful valley, as already said. This valley crossed the islandfrom one end to the other, being high in the middle and sloping on eachside towards the sea. The large mountain sloped, on the side farthestfrom where we had been wrecked, gradually towards the sea; but although,when viewed at a glance, it had thus a regular sloping appearance, amore careful observation showed that it was broken up into a multitudeof very small vales--or, rather, dells and glens--intermingled withlittle rugged spots and small but abrupt precipices here and there, withrivulets tumbling over their edges and wandering down the slopes inlittle white streams, sometimes glistening among the broad leaves of thebread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees, or hiding altogether beneath the richunderwood. At the base of this mountain lay a narrow bright-green plainor meadow, which terminated abruptly at the shore. On the other side ofthe island, whence we had come, stood the smaller hill, at the foot ofwhich diverged three valleys--one being that which we had ascended, witha smaller vale on each side of it, and separated from it by the tworidges before mentioned. In these smaller valleys there were nostreams, but they were clothed with the same luxuriant vegetation.

  The diameter of the island seemed to be about ten miles, and as it wasalmost circular in form, its circumference must have been thirty miles--perhaps a little more, if allowance be made for the numerous bays andindentations of the shore. The entire island was belted by a beach ofpure white sand, on which laved the gentle ripples of the lagoon. Wenow also observed that the coral reef completely encircled the island;but it varied its distance from it here and there--in some places beinga mile from the beach, in others a few hundred yards, but the averagedistance was half-a-mile. The reef lay very low, and the spray of thesurf broke quite over it in many places. This surf never ceased itsroar; for, however calm the weather might be, there is always a gentleswaying motion in the great Pacific, which, although scarce noticeableout at sea, reaches the shore at last in a huge billow. The waterwithin the lagoon, as before said, was perfectly still. There werethree narrow openings in the reef: one opposite each end of the valleywhich I have described as crossing the island; the other opposite ourown valley, which we afterwards named the Valley of the Wreck. At eachof these openings the reef rose into two small green islets, coveredwith bushes, and having one or two cocoa-nut palms on each. Theseislets were very singular, and appeared as if planted expressly for thepurpose of marking the channel into the lagoon. Our captain was makingfor one of these openings the day we were wrecked--and would havereached it, too, I doubt not, had not the rudder been torn away. Withinthe lagoon were several pretty, low coral islands, just opposite ourencampment; and immediately beyond these, out at sea, lay about a dozenother islands, at various distances, from half-a-mile to ten miles--allof them, as far as we could discern, smaller than ours and apparentlyuninhabited. They seemed to be low coral islands, raised but littleabove the sea, yet covered with cocoa-nut trees.

  All this we noted, and a great deal more, while we sat on the top of themountain. After we had satisfied ourselves we prepared to return; buthere, again, we discovered traces of the presence of man. These were apole or staff, and one or two pieces of wood which had been squared withan axe. All of these were, however, very much decayed, and they hadevidently not been touched for many years.

  Full of these discoveries, we returned to our encampment. On the way wefell in with the traces of some four-footed animal, but whether old orof re
cent date none of us were able to guess. This also tended to raiseour hopes of obtaining some animal food on the island; so we reachedhome in good spirits, quite prepared for supper, and highly satisfiedwith our excursion.

  After much discussion, in which Peterkin took the lead, we came to theconclusion that the island was uninhabited, and went to bed.