Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century

by Douglas Frazar

  CHAPTER XIV.

  Make chairs, and arrange my house, seal-skins, and goat-skins. Provide provisions for winter. Discover wild grapes, and make wine and vinegar. Find potassium, or saltpetre. Make gunpowder, and by means of my compass discover iron. Thoughts of the future.

  The completion of my canoe, which I named the "Fairy," was a greatdelight to me, and I made several trips in her along the coast inStillwater Cove, and made an exploration near the place where I hadfirst landed. Somewhat into the interior of the island, I came uponwhat was a great discovery for me,--although I had the seeds amongst mystores, and had already planted some,--and that was grapes, in largeand abundant clusters, growing wild and naturally. Here was both foodand drink for me, and they were at this time in their prime. From themI could make vinegar, wine, and raisins. I gathered a large quantity,which I placed in the canoe and transported to the Hermitage, andalthough late in season hung up many bunches to dry in the still quitewarm sun, and from the remainder I extracted the juice by pressing thembetween my hands and catching the liquor in several of my numerousearthen jars. The flavor of these grapes was a little wild, butpleasant and agreeable. I knew that fermentation would take place, andthat in time I should have a light claret wine, and thereafter goodwine vinegar. To cause fermentation, and to improve the flavor, I put apiece of goat's flesh into each vessel, and covered up the mouths withearthen covers that I had made to each.

  I was no longer in any fear about expending my manilla rope, for Ihad some time since begun to use strips of rawhide of the goats skinsfor lashings, than which nothing could be better, and I also cut manyskins into very fine strips after they were tanned, which served me forsmaller strings, and even thread for rough sewing. For finer sewingI often used the sinews of these creatures, and I had by this timeconverted several of my nails into steel, after having pierced themwith an eye, and by grinding them down and polishing them upon stones Ihad made several very good sail-needles, which were extremely useful,and it was a small matter to make a "palm," or sailor's thimble, fromthe skin of a goat, to go upon the right hand, to force the needlethrough any material, exactly the same as is done by sailors in alltheir stitching and sail-making. In place of the little round thimblefixed into the centre of the palm, to receive the head of the needlein pushing, I inserted a flint-stone with a roughened surface, whichanswered the purpose very well, and I could now do all kinds of roughsewing without the use of my awl, which had been a slow and laboriousmanner of proceeding. From this time forth I had no difficulty insewing my jackets and trousers with strong sinews, which held themfirmly together in the seams. It is scarcely credible how many things Igathered around about me that were useful as well as ornamental.

  Before I had done completely furnishing my house I set about making mea movable chair, as well as the easy ones that I had made of old roots,and this I did by means of my hatchet. I procured four smooth limbs oftrees, two of which were about four feet in length and two about onefoot six inches. The latter were to serve as the front legs, the formeras the back legs and also the back of the chair. These limbs were abouttwo inches in diameter, as I did not wish the chair to be heavy, butlight and portable. Into all these uprights I bored holes at properdistances by means of my anchor shank, heated to a red heat, which Ithrust through them, and cutting smaller round limbs for rungs I forcedthem into the holes made by the hot iron, and soon had the skeleton ofa nice light chair made to my hand. I was so pleased with it that I setabout another immediately, and soon had it also finished. It was notat all a difficult job for a mechanic. For the seat of these chairs,upon one I wove rushes thick and strong, and upon the other I laced afine piece of seal skin with the fur left on. They were both useful andcomfortable, but rather straight in the back, like the old ancestralchairs that I used to see in the attics in Vermont.

  I had got tired by this time shooting at the wild pigeons withmy arrows, and found no difficulty in capturing all I wanted bymeans of snares, made from the hair of my goats, which I set at thewatering-place whenever I wanted any of them for food, and gave overfiring ten or fifteen shots before I could kill one, when I couldcapture a dozen in an hour should I need them.

  I took down my goat-skins at the windows and replaced them by thinskins of the same animal, almost parchment, which gave some lightthrough them, and fastened them up with thorns, driven into the wood,for the winter, the open door giving me, with their subdued light,enough to see by so as to perform all the work that I wanted to inside,and when night came I had my lamps in full blast, for oil cost menothing.

  I made, before winter set in, several excursions, in all directions,and especially one in the direction of the mountain that lay upon myright hand, only about a mile from the Hermitage, when I went to thecoal-mine. This mountain I made up my mind to ascend, and see if Icould not make some new discovery. I fought my way up its steep sidestill I had arrived at nearly one-half the distance, apparently, fromits summit, when I was halted by the appearance of a small brook thattrickled past my feet. I noticed that the water and the stones wereboth of a brown, rusty color, and it flashed upon me that it must becaused by iron. If I could only find that substance I thought that Icould be almost happy, even in my solitude. What could I not do withthat metal to aid me? the handling of it would be to me child's play.I could make of it cast-steel, and of cast-steel all manner of toolsby means of moulds. This working in iron had been my trade, and I hadno occasion to consult my book to know how to avail myself of it shouldI be so fortunate as to find it. I followed this little tricklingbrook, not over six inches wide, till it branched into two smallerones, and, still following the smaller one, traced it till I came to aplace where, in a bubbling spring, the water issued from the mountain'sside. The discoloration of all the stones near me proved to me that Iwas near iron, and that the mountain whence the tiny streams issuedcontained it; but in how large masses I could not judge.

  I left my little stream and looked about me carefully, to the rightand left, for I did not want to pierce the mountain whence the waterissued, as I wanted a dryer spot to make my explorations, and knewthat if there was iron it would be found near by the brook as wellas in the exact spot whence the spring burst forth. I finally, at alittle distance to the left hand and rather down the hill, found aplace that looked as if it might prove a good locality to prosecute mysearch. The ground was covered with boulders, of different sizes, andthere was quite an opening on the mountain side, the undergrowth beingonly shrubs and plants, with the trees and groves below me in largergroups. In this opening I set to work, turning over such boulders as Icould lift, and there were many that by aid of a handspike, cut froma sapling with my hatchet, I was able to remove and send boundingdown the mountain side. I scratched into the side of the mountainin this way till I had made quite a little excavation, but I wasobliged to give it up and return home for my pickaxe, as I called myanchor-fluke, and with this instrument, and carrying my dinner withme, I attacked the mountain the next day and made more progress. Afterworking some little, in an irregular way, into the mountain side,--forI had to avoid the heavier boulders and solid stone,--I came upon acrystallized mass between two rocks that seemed to be exuding from themountain side. It looked something like common salt, and I put some ofit in my mouth to see if I could recognize what it was by the taste.It had hardly reached my palate before I sank down upon the earthwhere I stood, with the excitement of the knowledge of the discoverythat I felt sure I had made. My sense of taste told me plainly that Ihad found saltpetre, and saltpetre meant _gunpowder_! GUNPOWDER! andgunpowder meant strength to protect myself with and power to blow themountain to atoms to come at my iron should nature try to resist me byenfolding it concealed in its bosom. I grasped my pickaxe and pickedout quite a lump of my precious discovery, and started hastily for home.

  It was too late to do much on that day, as my usual household caresand the milking of my goats and getting supper took up most of mytime; besides I wanted to consult my book as to the proportions inwhich to mix my ingredients to make g
unpowder. I knew nearly theright proportions, and felt confident that I could get it exactly byrepeated experiment, but I also knew that my book would give it to meexactly and save me much loss of time in this direction. I knew alsothat willow or alder made the best charcoal for gunpowder, and, thankGod, there was no lack of these trees upon the island. If I obtainedgunpowder I could make some kind of a gun, for I knew that, in ancienthistory, cannon even had been made of _leather_, and fired repeatedlywithout bursting. I could certainly make a tube of some kind, sostrongly reinforced with skin and twine and raw hide, that it wouldstand the discharge of a small quantity of powder without bursting, andif I found iron I would soon solve all the difficulties about a gunbarrel, let me once get hold of the raw material in any quantity.

  A thought struck me in this connection. I would soon prove whetherthere was iron in the mountain side by taking my compass there on thenext trip, and seeing if it was drawn from the true north towardsthe mountain side, and if so, in what direction: this would tell mehow to dig towards my treasure, and not waste time by going in anywrong direction. This seemed a happy thought, and I was jubilant overhaving conceived it. The only thing that I did to help things alongfor the morrow was to pick out carefully, from my wood-fire ashes,small pieces of charcoal that I thought would serve my purpose, andto pick off from several pieces of my coal a quantity of sulphur allready for my experiments. The next morning I set to work in goodearnest, and having discovered the proportions in which to add mydifferent ingredients, I soon had the pulverized charcoal, sulphur, andsaltpetre together, and then, moistening the mass slightly, I kneadedthem together till they were completely incorporated. I then, by a slowheat, dried my gunpowder cake upon hot stones that I heated at thefire and then carried to a distance, first carefully dusting them, andplaced my gunpowder paste upon them in an earthen jar to be dried. Asmy cake was not very large, I was not very many hours in doing this;and as I knew that I ought not to use any iron or stone in pulverizingthe mass, whilst this was going on, I procured a smooth rolling-pinmade from the round branch of a tree, and smoothed quite a surfaceon the upper side of a large fallen tree with my hatchet, so that Ihad a sort of table to roll my powder upon. Again, to prevent allaccidents, when my cake was thoroughly dry, I carried it bit by bit,having broken it by a blow of my wooden rolling-pin, to my fallen-treetable, where I crushed it under the roller, putting pieces no largerthan my thumb-nail under the roller at one time, so if there should bean explosion, it would be on so small a scale that it would not injureme in the least, should it take place. As fast as this small amount waspulverized, I carried it again to a distance and placed it in a gourdfor safe keeping, but I pulverized very little before I interruptedmy task to rush with quite a handful to my fire, and, taking a pinch,I cast it into the flame, and, puff, puff, puff, it ignited as itstruck the fire, just as the particles used to do in my boyhood days.Even this did not, however, satisfy me. I laid the rest down upon thefloor, and standing at a distance with a coal in one end of a cleftstick, touched it, when it exploded as quickly and completely as anyever turned out by any mill. One more proof and I would be convinced. Iran and got from the sea-shore one of the large shells for which I haveno name, but which I had formerly used as lamp reservoirs, and goingto my powder table, soon pulverized enough to pour a handful into it,and to close up the lips with moist clay, except one orifice; to this Ilaid a piece of manilla soaked in the dampened powder as a slow match,and having set fire to the same, and retired to a safe distance, Iawaited the result. It seemed an eternity before the slow match burnedto the orifice, but when I had almost given up hope, in one instant,with a loud report, the sea-shell was burst into a thousand fragments.I was successful; power and strength were added to my resources. Ilay down upon the sand by the sea-shore where I had retired to watchthe explosion, and fell into a brown study, which enwrapped me, bodyand soul, for many hours, till I was called to myself again by thedecreasing light of the setting sun. The next day I sallied forth,armed with my compass, for the mountain side, and upon arrival I notedthe direction of the magnetic north by my compass, the card of which Ihad released from its packing and set upon its pivot. Having carefullyascertained this, I entered the small hole that I had made in themountain side, and held the compass in several places against theearth, when the needle turned perceptibly away from the magnetic northand pointed in towards the interior of the mountain, and by severalexperiments I found out in just what direction I ought to advance, andby the attraction of the needle I felt sure that the ore, which I nowwas convinced was there, could not be very far distant from where Istood, and that one large blast would lay it open to me. I thereforewent to work and gathered quite a quantity of the saltpetre and startedfor home to make my gunpowder for the blast that was to open up to memy long-sought treasure, valuable to me far beyond any other metal onthis earth in the circumstances in which I was placed.

  In five days' time I found myself in possession of over twenty pounds,I should judge, of good gunpowder. I found by my book that it was notat all peculiar to find potassium as I had found mine, and further,that to purify it I needed to mix it with equal parts of wood-ashes,and then add water and allow it to stand a few hours, and then draw offthe lye and place it for three days in the sun, in shallow vessels,to evaporate, and then boil down what was left, to procure absolutelypure saltpetre, all of which I did. And when I had manufactured mypowder, and observed by experiment that it was much sharper and louderin explosions than before, showing the improvement of purifying thesaltpetre, I placed the whole lot in my goatskin bag and started forthe mountain. Arriving at my excavation, I looked about to see whatI could do to make my explosion effectual and do the most good. Byexamination, I found that there was quite a space between the two innerboulders that obstructed my way, and a sort of vent-hole that led, Iknew not where. Into this I commenced to pour my powder, and used upover two-thirds of all I possessed before I saw any result. Finally,the crevice, just as I began to despair and thought I had thrown awayand lost it all, showed that it was full by refusing to receive anymore. As soon as I noticed this, I knew that I had an excellent chanceto make a good blast, and I therefore pushed in the powder in sight,and was able, by shoving it downwards, to add at least two poundsmore. I then carefully inserted a strand of manilla previously soakedin wet powder, and dried, into the mouth of this crevice, and welldown into the powder; I then stuffed the whole with small pebbles andmoist earth, and finally placed quite a large rock against the vent,and, with a prayer for success I lighted the fuse and retired to asafe distance to watch the effect. As before, it seemed as if it wouldnever ignite, and I waited and waited, taking care to be well distantand well sheltered behind a large boulder, till finally, with a dull,low, smothered noise, the charge exploded. I was disappointed, and wasafraid that my powder was too weak or ill-made, but when I arrivedat the spot I was amazed at the execution that had taken place: thewhole roof had been uplifted and thrown open, and the boulders that hadresisted my further entrance cast to one side, and the whole side ofthe mountain pierced and opened in a wonderful manner. I dashed intothe opening that had been made, and the first fragment that my handclosed upon was pure iron ore. I was like one mad with joy. I acted asinsanely as I had once or twice before since landing upon the island,and danced and sang, and ended by sitting down and bursting into tears.Upon further examination I was inclined to believe that the wholemountain was composed of iron, and that I only needed to pierce thecrust in any direction to get the precious metal. My discovery lay justabout one mile from my home, and quite accessible.

  I found that the blast had brought to view quite a large surface, onone side, of my saltpetre, whilst further to the southward appearedthe iron ore in masses that I could pry out with my pickaxe. Afterhaving feasted my eyes long enough upon my treasure, I started down themountain, smoothing the pathway wherever it was rough, and opening up away for my team and sled to bring down the ore to the hermitage.

  I absolutely saw no end to the improvements that I could make now
thatI had iron to work with. I could do anything within reason, and makeanything I chose to make. A thousand and one schemes of escape byits means rose up before me. If at this moment I could have had thecompanionship of my fellow-kind, I should, I think, have been unableto ask any blessing to be added to my lot. Here was I in evidently oneof the finest climates of the earth, with everything about me even nowto sustain life, and with many of its luxuries, and with the foundationlaid for many more.

  Upon a close examination of the specimen that I had brought away withme in my bag, home to the Hermitage, and by consultation with my book,I felt convinced that I had discovered what is called magnetic iron;that is, iron ore that is most universally dispersed over the earth.The action of the compass added to this belief, and the limestoneformation was exactly fitted to this kind of ore, which is the same asis generally called the Swedish iron ore, one of the best-known ironsin the world. The color was a sort of black iron shade, and the orebrittle and attracted by the magnet of my compass; whereas, if my ironore had been hematite it would have been of a dull steel color, andprobably without magnetic properties.

  How I revelled in what I was going to do. First, I was to build my kilnand put the ore through that to purify it of sulphur, arsenic, water,&c., then to a blast furnace, to be heated with a flux of limestoneand coal, and in the melted form run into pigs in the sand of thesmelting-room. Once in this melted form I could make, from moulds,chisels, axes, hatchets, plane-irons, and saws, by a treatment of themelted iron ore. By means of blasts of cold air I could change thewhole mass into Bessemer steel. With the tools I have named, in myhand, I could go to work at once to erect a sawmill on Rapid River,near the Hermitage, and with the greatest ease saw out all the plankI should want for any purpose under the sun. Then my thoughts strayedaway to nautical instruments, some kind of a quadrant, then thelatitude and longitude of my island, and then a chart on Mercator'sprojection from my Epitome; and then turning-lathes, iron boats,electric wire, gunmaking, steam engine and propeller boat, torpedoesfor defence, and all the means to escape from this miserable solitude.All these things, I say, ran through my head like wildfire. Nothing wasnow impossible. I had got my genie, and I was determined to make himwork. The weather was getting cooler and cooler, and one or two stormshad already warned me of the approach of winter. The leaves began tofall, and the whole island commenced to look dreary and forsaken; thegrass, however, retained its freshness in a remarkable degree.

  It was in the latter part of May that I discovered my iron ore, andI knew that this was the same month comparatively as November wouldbe in the northern hemisphere; and although there had as yet been noactual frost, much less any ice or snow, yet I saw signs, not to bedisregarded, that the weather would be more severe and colder beforethe spring days would come, and yet evidently I had not much to fearfrom a very great degree of cold, as my theory concerning the climatehad so far been singularly correct. I commenced, therefore, at once,without loss of time, to collect my ore by means of my team of goats,and transport it from the mountain to Rapid River. I did not bring itover as I had the coal, for I determined to erect my blast furnaceand kiln on the further side, and opposite to my home, as being moreconvenient in many respects.

  I worked hard myself, and worked my team hard, in bringing to RapidRiver both the iron ore and coal, and also quite a large quantity ofthe potassium, which I carefully took into the hermitage till I shouldneed it to make more powder. It did not take very many trips, however,after all, to get the iron ore that I should use during the winter, atleast, but the coal to smelt it took me longer. After I had gatheredall of each that I thought I should need I gave my goats a rest, andset to work to make arrangements for my smelting-furnace, kiln, andsmelting-room, and how I proceeded I will now go on to relate.