The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness
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CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
THE MENAGERIE, AVIARY, AND BOTANIC GARDEN.
"We were busy of course every day, as we had plenty of work to do. Welaid a floor in our cabin, and fenced a couple of fields--one to plantour corn in, and the other to keep Pompo from straying off into thewoods, and meeting with some animal that might feel inclined to devourhim. We also succeeded in killing several red-deer and a couple of elk,which we stored up for our winter provision. We did not find theblack-tails very palatable, and most of their flesh went to feed Castorand Pollux.
"Cudjo was the busiest of all of us. He made several household utensilswhich proved of great service to us. He also constructed for himself awooden plough, which would serve every purpose--as there was aconsiderable portion of the ground that was without turf, and could beeasily turned. This part had been covered with beautiful flowers, suchas sunflowers, red and orange-coloured poppies, and asclepias. It wasalmost a pity to plough them up.
"With an eye to the future scarcity of our ammunition, we had begun topractise hunting with a weapon which would answer all our purposesalmost as well as the rifle--still keeping the latter of course forgreat occasions. We had found some of the _bois d'arc_, or "Osageorange," as it is called, growing in the valley. This is the famousbow-wood of the Indians; and taking a hint from these children ofNature, we made three bows, stringing them--as the Indians do--with thesinews of the deer. For arrows, we had the straight cane-reeds; andCudjo made us a set of barbs out of iron spikes that we had taken fromthe wagon. With daily practising at a mark, before the winter was over,we were all three able to use our new weapons to some purpose; andHarry, to his mother's great delight, could bring down a squirrel fromthe top of the highest tree in the valley. As a marksman, both with thebow and rifle, he was quite superior to Frank, who, instead of feelingjealous, seemed rather to be proud of the skill of his brother. Harry,during all the winter, kept our table loaded with partridges,squirrels--of which there were several species--hares, and wild turkeys;the last of which, being much finer than tame ones, of course we wereall very fond of.
"My wife, too, added largely to the delicacies of our table. During thelast days of autumn, she made several botanical excursions--of course,all of us accompanying her by way of guard--and in each of these someuseful production was discovered. We found several species of wildfruits--currants, cherries, and a small fruit known as the"serviceberry," which grew in great profusion. All these fruits weregathered in quantity, and made into preserves. We obtained roots aswell--one of which was the _pomme-blanche_, or Indian turnip; but themost interesting of all was the wild potato, which we dug up--for, infact, it is only upon the table-lands of America where that plant isindigenous. We should not have recognised it as an old acquaintance,but for the botanical knowledge of my wife. Its roots were not largerthan wren's eggs, and we could find so few of them that, in its wildstate, we saw it would be of no use to us as an article of food. Mary,however, had hopes, that by cultivation, we might produce larger ones;so we collected all the tubers we could fall in with, and kept them forseed.
"Out of the pods of the honey-locust, we brewed a very agreeable sort ofbeer; but we were able to extract a still more generous beverage fromthe wild or fox-grapes that grew in all parts of the valley. Whiletravelling through France, I had learnt how wine was made; and ourvintage succeeded to perfection. On the winter nights, as we sat aroundour cheerful log-fire, Mary was accustomed to deal out to us a measurea-piece of the exhilarating drink. It was only, however, after a hardday's work or hunting, that we were allowed to draw upon this preciousstore.
"About this time, a new idea entered into my mind, which I communicatedto the others, and with which they all fully agreed. It was this:--Tocapture as many of the wild animals as we could, and endeavour todomesticate them to our uses. I was prompted to this purpose by variousconsiderations. First, because I saw, although there were several kindsof deer in the valley, there were but few of each kind; and it was notlikely that for many years they had been upon the increase. Nature hadso disposed it, that these creatures had been regularly thinned offevery year by the numerous beasts of prey that prowled through thevalley. Now, an additional enemy was added to the number of theirdestroyers; and I foresaw that, unless some precaution should be taken,the deer would soon become so scarce and wild, that we should find itdifficult to obtain enough for our uses. Could we only kill off thefierce beasts--such as panthers, and wolves, and wolverenes--that preyedupon them, then the whole valley would become our deer-park, and thedeer would soon increase to any number we wanted. This, however, wecould not do; and, in fact, the beasts of prey were as likely to masterus as we them--for none of us were safe in venturing into the thickwoods alone; and whenever the boys made a short excursion from theglade, their mother was always in a state of anxiety until theyreturned. In fact, every hunt we made was attended with considerabledanger, as we always fell in with the tracks of wolves, panthers, andeven bears; and we frequently saw these animals skulking through theunderwood. We knew that in time our powder must run out, and then ourrifles would be useless to us. Our bows and arrows would then avail usbut little against such thick-hided monsters as these. We only hopedthat when we became better acquainted with the habits of thesecarnivorous creatures, we should be enabled to destroy them in traps,and thus thin them off at our leisure, and without wasting ourammunition. This, of course, would constitute a branch of ouremployment; and, besides being a work of utility, would furnish us withan excitement not the less agreeable because it was hazardous. Couldwe, therefore, collect a few of the more useful animals into an enclosedpark, they would soon propagate and increase; and then the trouble aswell as danger which we experienced in hunting them would be at an end.We knew that our maize-corn, yielding two crops in the year, wouldenable us to supply them abundantly with food.
"There was still another consideration which had its weight in theseplans. I was very fond of the study of natural history--particularlythat branch of it relating to quadrupeds--and I foresaw the pleasure ofobserving the habits of these wild creatures. We should not, therefore,confine ourselves to making `pets' of those animals that might merelyserve us for food. We should embrace in our collection all that wecould subject to our rule, whether gentle or fierce. In fact, it wasour intention to establish a regular `menagerie of the Desert.'
"The main object of our industry and prospective wealth--that is, thecollection of the beaver fur--would not in any way interfere with theseplans. The beavers, in short, would give as very little trouble--as thedrying and preserving the skins of those we should trap would onlyoccupy us a small portion of the year.
"Harry entered with more spirit into my designs than any of the others;for Harry, like myself, was fond of quadrupeds. Frank, on the otherhand, was a great bird-catcher; and recommended that we should includebirds in our menagerie. To this, of course, we assented freely. Maryhad her own designs already shaped out; and these were, to gather allthe plants and trees that might be either curious or useful, and toobserve what effect cultivation would produce upon them--in short, itwas her wish to form a complete `botanical garden.'
"To each, then, was given a separate department. Harry and I weredesignated `beast-tamers;' Frank the `bird-tamer;' while Mary wasappropriately styled the `tree-tamer.' To Cudjo was assigned a veryimportant share of the labour. He was to enclose the park for our deer,as well as the grounds for the botanic garden. He was also to make ourtraps and cages--all of which things Cudjo knew how to do, and how to dothem well. Of course, we were to assist him, as well as each other, incarrying out our designs.
"Thus, our plans for the future were interesting to all of us. In ourvarious pursuits, we should be enabled to employ all our idle time. Wehad no books, either to amuse or instruct us; but we knew that we shouldderive both instruction and amusement from the study of the greatest ofall books--_the book of Nature_."