The South Sea Whaler

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

  THE HOUSE FINISHED--A STORE-HOUSE BUILT--SAGO MANUFACTURED--WALTER MAKESBOWS AND ARROWS--A SHOOTING EXPEDITION--WALTER SEES A TERRIFICCREATURE--CATCH AND COOK IT--ERECT A "SMOKING-HOUSE"--SUCCESSFULFISHING.

  The house was nearly finished. The whole of it was constructed ofbamboos. The uprights were the thickest canes; the next in size formedthe horizontal beams, lashed together tightly with the long trailingvines which abounded in the forest. The rafters of the flooring and theroof were of a third size; while the flooring itself and the walls werecomposed of the larger canes split in two, and, after being well wetted,pressed down by heavy stones till they were perfectly flat. The roofwas thickly thatched with palm-leaves, which served also to cover theoutside walls of Alice's room. There was a broad verandah in front, inwhich the occupants could sit and work during the heat of the day. Thecommon sitting-room was intended to serve them chiefly at night, whenthe weather proved bad. There was no fear of cold in that climate, andthey had, consequently, only to guard against wet and an inconvenientamount of wind. The lower rooms were not more than seven feet inheight, and the upper scarcely so high; so that the whole building,independent of the roof, which had a steep pitch, did not reach morethan fourteen feet from the ground. A ladder with numerous rounds,which would allow Alice to climb up and down with ease, led from thesitting-room to the upper story. As, of course, they had no glass,window-shutters were formed of the same material as the house, andserved well to exclude either the sun or rain.

  "Why, we have forgotten a store-room!" exclaimed Walter, just as thehouse was finished. "If we have no larder, how are we to keep our game,and the sago which the doctor is going to make, and the roots andfruits, and anything else we may obtain?"

  "It was indeed an omission, and I wonder none of us thought of itbefore," said the mate. "However, a few more hours' labour will enableus to set up a building which will answer the purpose better than had weput it inside the house."

  Another journey to the bamboo brake supplied them with the necessaryamount of canes, and a small building was erected at one end of thehouse--which served for one of its walls. It had three stories, eachabout three feet in height, with a ladder reaching to them, so that nomarauders, unless they were climbers, could get in. This could not haveprevented either monkeys or snakes, or such active creatures astiger-cats, from robbing their stores. Well-fitting shutters weretherefore fixed on in front of the building, which was completed beforedark, and was considered strong enough for the purpose they had in view.It was, indeed, a gigantic safe standing on four legs, the lower partbeing quite open.

  "Now we must set to work to kill game, and obtain other provisions, toput in it," observed the mate.

  "I shall be able to manufacture more bows for the rest of the party; forthough I am improving, I can scarcely expect, as yet, to kill gameenough for all hands, or to obtain a sufficient supply to lay by for thevoyage," said Walter.

  "We will devote the remainder of this evening, then, to manufacturingbows and arrows," said the mate.

  "To-morrow I must beg you all to come and assist me in manufacturingsago," observed the doctor. "I can employ all hands. We must first cutdown a tree, and then divide it into lengths, and drag them to thewater, where we must erect our machinery, which need only be of a veryrough character,--and probably the bamboo canes will help us to formit."

  "Mr Shobbrok, when do you propose to begin enlarging the boat? I do solong to set sail in search of papa," said Alice.

  "I have been considering the subject, young lady, and I am as anxious asyou can be, but there is a great deal to be done first. We must collectprovisions, and also ascertain that they will keep good during a longvoyage. One difficulty can be got over more easily than I at firstsupposed; for the thick ends of the large bamboos will, I have no doubt,carry a quantity of water, though I am afraid they will take more spacein stowing than I would wish. If the doctor succeeds in producing sago,we shall have a substitute for bread; and it also may be preserved inbamboo casks. I think, too, that we may manage to salt and smoke thebirds and fish we may catch; though, without hooks and lines, we canonly hope occasionally to kill some larger fish with our harpoons."

  "I have been thinking, Mr Shobbrok," observed Walter, "that I couldmake some fish-hooks from nails, with the help of a small file which Ihave in my knife; and as we have plenty of rope, we may unpick some ofit, and twist some strong line."

  "Pray set about it then, Walter," said the mate; "for time will be lostif we go out in the boat in search of large fish to harpoon, when smallones may be caught from the rocks on the seashore."

  The next day the whole party started, under the guidance of the doctor,to the spot where he had seen the sago palm. He observed that it wasthe best time to cut down the tree, as the leaves were covered with awhitish dust, which was a sign that the flower-bud was about to appear,and that the sago, or pith within the stem, was then most abundant--itbeing intended by nature for the support of the flowers and fruit. Nubhaving climbed to the top of a tree, secured a rope, at which the wholeof the party hauling together, hoped to bring it down in the rightdirection. The mate, axe in hand, then commenced chopping away. Thewood was tolerably soft, and as the weapon was sharp and he was a goodaxe-man, the tree was soon cut through, and came crashing down to theground. He then, by the doctor's directions, divided the trunk intopieces five feet in length. While he was thus occupied, the doctor gothis other companions to pull off the leaves, and to manufacture a numberof cylindrical baskets--in which, he told them, he intended to put thepulp produced from the pith. The tree being cut up, ropes were fastenedto each piece, to enable them to be dragged to the side of the river.Two men were required for each. Walter and Alice tried to drag one ofthe smallest, but could not move it over the rough ground; theytherefore carried the baskets, and remained by the river to assist thedoctor and Nub, while the mate and Dan went back to bring up the otherlogs. The first operation was to slice off a part of the outer hardwood till the pith appeared. The log was then rested on bamboo trestlesa couple of feet from the ground. The two workmen now cut across thelongitudinal fibres and the pith together, leaving however, a part ateach end untouched, so that the log formed a rough trough. The pulpthus cut into small pieces, and mixed with water, was beaten by a pieceof wood, by which means the fibres were separated from it, they floatingon the top, while the flour sank to the bottom. A number of bamboobuckets, manufactured by Nub, enabled Walter and Alice to bring thewater required for the operation. The coarser fibres floating on thetop being thrown away, the water was drained off, and the remaining pulpwas again cleared by more water. This operation was repeated severaltimes, till a pure white powder alone remained.

  "There, Miss Alice," said the doctor, showing it to her, "I beg to offeryou some, with which you can make cakes or puddings,--though I confessthat it is not equal to wheaten flour, as this is in reality starch: butit will afford nourishment to us, as it would have done to the flowersand roots of the tree had we not cut it down."

  "I thought sago was like little white seeds," remarked Alice.

  "What is imported is so in appearance," answered the doctor. "In orderthat it may keep, it is prepared by being first moistened, and thenpassed through a sieve into a shallow dish, and placed over a fire,which causes it to assume a globular form. The sago, when properlypacked, will keep a long time; but the flour we have here would quicklyturn sour, if exposed to the air. I propose filling the baskets we havemade with what sago we do not require for immediate use, and sinkingthem in fresh water, when it will thus keep for a long time. Had we butan iron pot, we might easily prepare it for a voyage; but we must, ofnecessity, find some other means of doing so."

  "Don't you think the large mollusc-shell will answer the purpose?"observed Walter. "If it will cook meat, it will surely bake the sago."

  "In that instance it had water in it," observed the doctor. "I amafraid that with dry sago in it the shell will take fire. However,
wewill try. Perhaps we may find a large flat stone which we can surroundwith a rim of wood; and by applying heat under the centre our object maybe attained."

  "Oh, that will do capitally," said Walter; "and I am sure that we caneasily manufacture a sieve."

  The mate and Dan had now brought up all the logs; and seeing how wellthe doctor had succeeded, they heartily congratulated him.

  In a short time the pith of the whole tree was turned into sago powder,amounting, they calculated, to about one hundred pounds. The doctortold them that this was but a small quantity compared with that which alarge tree produces, as frequently one tree alone yields five to sixhundred pounds' weight of sago. The greater part of the sago havingbeen buried in a quiet pool, where there was little fear of its beingdisturbed, the party returned with the remainder late in the evening totheir house.

  Walter was up next morning at daybreak, searching along the shore for aflat stone to serve for the bottom of the pan he wished to make forgranulating the sago. To his great delight, he found one ofconsiderable size, almost circular, and with the edges washed smooth bythe action of the waves. He had brought some strips of the palm whichhad been chopped off the sago tree on the previous day. One of thesewas of sufficient length to bind round the stone; another served for therim of the sieve, and a number of large leaves cut into strips made thebottom. Both contrivances had a rough look, but he hoped they wouldanswer the purpose. He placed the pan between two stones in the way themollusc had been fixed; and then hurrying to the doctor, brought him tosee what he had done. The fire was soon lighted under the stone, whichwas heated without cracking; and the doctor then shook some flour fromthe sieve on to the pan, and, greatly to his and Walter's delight, itgranulated perfectly.

  "You have rendered our community a great service, Walter!" exclaimed thedoctor. "We may perhaps improve upon your contrivance, or, at allevents, make a number of pans and sieves, as the process at present is aslow one, and it would take a long time to manufacture as much sago aswe shall require for the voyage."

  Walter, however, begged that he might continue the manufacture, so thathe might be able to judge how much could be produced. Though helaboured all day, he had only two or three pounds' weight to show; stillthat was something, and no doubt remained that a supply of sago could beobtained for the voyage. Alice, who had watched him at work, felt surethat she could carry it on as well as he could; so the next day she tookhis place, while he accompanied the doctor on a shooting expedition.Nub was to attend them. Each carried a bow, with a quiver full ofarrows, and a long spear. They were neither of them as yet very expertmarksmen. The doctor was the best, while Walter was improving. Danalways declared that his bow had a twist in it, and shot crooked; but hewas more successful than any of the party in catching birds in otherways.

  They had been waiting for Nub, who had gone out early in the morning;but just as they were starting, they met him coming back with a coupleof hornbills, which had taken refuge in the hole occupied by the birdsbefore captured.

  "I thought oders would come," he observed, holding them up; "and I gotone egg, too, which do nicely for Missie Alice's breakfast."

  The doctor told him to take the birds home, and then to follow them.They several times caught sight, as they went along, of some beautifulbirds of paradise, which, however, kept too high up in the trees to beshot by arrows.

  "We are out of luck this morning," said the doctor, when they had gonesome way without killing a bird.

  "Don't you think that if we could make some bird-lime we might have abetter chance of catching the smaller birds?" asked Walter.

  "No doubt about it, if we could get the ingredients, and a bait toattract the birds," answered the doctor. "The idea is worthconsidering. Keep your mind at work, my lad; you may be, at all events,of great use in our present circumstances. I have known instances whereshipwrecked crews have starved when they might have supported theirlives, simply because they were too ignorant or too dull to exertthemselves and search diligently for food. An Australian savage willlive in the wilds where the white man will perish. But then the savageknows the habits of all the living creatures in the neighbourhood, andthe roots and herbs, and indeed every vegetable substance which willafford him nourishment. Had we more skill as marksmen, and did we knowthe haunts of the animals frequenting these woods, I have no doubt thatwe should have before this abundantly supplied ourselves with food ofall sorts. We are, however, improving, and I have no longer any anxietyon the subject."

  While the doctor was speaking, Walter had been intently looking towardsthe branch of a large tree seven or eight feet above the ground.

  "Oh, Mr Lawrie," he exclaimed, "what is that terrific monster? If itshould run at us it will kill us. The head looks to me like that of acrocodile; but do such creatures exist on land? Shall we attack it, orwill it be better to get out of its way?" he asked, quickly recoveringhis courage, and bringing his spear ready for battle. Walter's sharpeyes had detected what Mr Lawrie had before failed to see in the gloomof the forest.

  "If we are not cautious, it will be getting out of our way, which Ishould be sorry for," answered the surgeon with a calmness whichsurprised his companion. "That creature is a species of iguana, somefew of which inhabit the East, though the larger number are found inSouth America and the West India Islands. They are not very formidableantagonists, and are more likely to run away than attack us. If we hada good strong noose, we might throw it over the head of the animal, andsoon haul it down from its perch, where it at present seems to besleeping."

  While they were speaking, Nub overtook them, and was highly pleased whenthey pointed out to him the hideous-looking lizard.

  "Look, I brought dis," he said, producing a piece of rope. "Now I goand slip it ober de head of de iguana; and when I pull him down, you pinhim to de ground with your spears."

  The doctor and Walter agreed to follow Nub's advice, and cautiouslyapproached the sleeping brachylophus, as the doctor called the creature.It looked still more formidable as they approached; for it had a longpointed tail, large claws, a row of spines down its back, and numerousteeth in its long jaws. Lumps and excrescences of various sizes addedto the hideous appearance of its head.

  Nub got the noose ready to throw, while the doctor and Walter held theirspears prepared for action. Nub drew nearer and nearer; the reptileopened one of its eyes, and then the other, and moved its tail slightly.In a moment the noose was dexterously thrown over its head, when Nubgave a violent pull before it had time to grasp the branch with itsclaws, and hauled it to the ground. "Now, Massa Walter," he shoutedout; "hold on to him tail." But though both Walter and the doctorattempted to catch the creature's tail, it whisked it about so violentlythat the task was no easy one. Nub meantime kept jumping round andround, as it made attempts to bite his legs. The doctor at lengthgetting in front, ran his spear into its open mouth; while Walter, withthe point of his, pressed its neck down to the ground. The creaturehad, however, still an abundance of life, and made desperate efforts toescape. When it advanced, the doctor drove his spear further down itsthroat; and when it retreated, finding the point unpleasant, Nub hauledaway on the rope, which grew tighter and tighter round its neck.

  "Hit it on the tail with your spear, Walter; a few heavy blows will soonrender it helpless," said the doctor; and Walter, as directed,belaboured the unfortunate creature, till at length its strugglesceased.

  "Hurrah! we got him now,--and plenty of dinner to last us for manydays," shouted Nub. "I tink what we now got to do is to make ropes fastround him neck and drag him home."

  Nub's suggestion was acted on; and having cut some vines and fastenedthem round the creature's neck, they harnessed themselves and beganhauling it along. The operation was somewhat fatiguing, owing to theroughness of the ground and the numerous roots which projected in alldirections. Their arrival was welcomed cordially by the mate and Dan;Alice, however, could not believe that they intended to eat so hideous acreature. It was forthwith hoisted up to
the branch of a tree; andwhile Nub and Dan prepared the fire for cooking it, the doctor cut openits inside, which was found full of tree-frogs, small lizards, and othercreatures. Walter stood by watching him, as with scientific skill hedissected the huge lizard, discoursing as he did so in technicallanguage, which was perfectly incomprehensible to his young hearer, onthe curious formation of the creature,--on its bones, muscles, and otherinternal parts.

  "I tink one ting," observed Nub, who, after he had deposited a bundle offaggots near the fire, had come back to watch the proceedings. "I tinkthat he make bery good roast, and remarkably fine stew, if we had saltand pepper, and a few oder tings to eat wid him. I bery glad if wecatch one of dese beasts ebery oder day."

  As soon as the doctor had satisfied his curiosity, Nub begged that hemight have the joints, as it was time to begin cooking them for dinner.The remainder of the carcass was now hung up in the larder, which hadbeen finished in time for its reception.

  "We must see about preserving our meat, however," observed the doctor,"or we shall always be liable to starvation; and the sooner we begin thebetter."

  "What do you propose doing?" asked Walter. "I was thinking of searchingfor salt on the seashore."

  "A still more effectual way of preserving the meat will be to smoke it,I suspect," said the doctor. "We have an abundance of stones, and wecan easily build a `smoking-house,' with the ever-useful bamboos forrafters. We shall have time to do something before dinner."

  "At all events, we can make a beginning. There's nothing like settingat once about a thing which has to be done," observed Walter.

  "You are right, my boy; and we will get the mate and Dan to help us, asNub, I see, is busy attending to our roast," said the doctor.

  They immediately set to work to erect a circular wall about six feet indiameter. They did not stop to procure cement, as even should thestructure tumble down no great damage would be done, and it might easilybe built up again. They had already raised it two or three feet inheight before Nub had finished his culinary operations. Dinner was laidout, not, as hitherto, on the ground, but on a rustic-looking table,with benches on one side, and a large arm-chair at one end for MrShobbrok. Alice superintended the arrangements. They had leaves forplates, sticks for forks, and their clasp-knives enabled them to cut uptheir meat; and a neat bamboo cup stood by the side of each person,while one of larger dimensions served to hold their only beverage, purewater. At length Nub shouted, "Dinner is ready;" and he and Dan enteredthe house, each bearing a large shell which they had picked up on theshore,--one containing a piece of roast lizard, and the other one of thehornbills captured in the morning. Nub then hurried out again, andreturned with a third shell full of sago; while a fourth was filled withsome roots which the doctor had dug up. The latter assured his friendsthat they were perfectly wholesome, as he knew the nature of the plants.They complimented Nub on his cooking, and all sat down with excellentappetites, and hearts thankful for the substantial meal which had beensupplied them. Little had they expected to find so large a supply ofwholesome food when they first landed.

  The next day the doctor and Nub went on with the erection of thesmoking-house; while the mate, assisted by Dan, made preparations forthe proposed alterations in the boat. He looked somewhat grave,however, over the business; and Dan heard him saying to himself, "I wishthat I thought it would do. But it's a fearful risk for those youngpeople to run."

  The doctor having at length finished the smoking-house, which wascovered over thickly with palm-leaves, he observed,--"And now we havefinished our house, we must get some game to put in it. Your bow andarrows, Walter, will, I hope, give us a good supply."

  "But are we not to try and catch some fish?" asked Walter. "They can bemore effectually smoked than birds, and will keep better, I fancy. Ihave begun a hook, and I think that I may be able to finish two or threemore before night."

  "By all means. If Mr Shobbrok does not intend to commence immediatelyon the boat, we might take her into the middle of the harbour, or out tosea, and try what we can catch."

  The mate agreed to the doctor's proposal; so the next day they andWalter went off, taking Alice, who wished to accompany them. Nub andDan remained on shore to attend to the traps, and shoot some birds, ifthey could, for dinner. The fishing-party first threw their linesoverboard in the harbour, but after trying for some time they caughtonly two small fish; they therefore pulled some way out to sea, wherethe water was sufficiently shallow to allow them to anchor by means of alarge stone which they had brought for the purpose. They quickly gotbites, and began rapidly to pull up some large fish, which the doctorbelieved, from their appearance, were likely to prove wholesome, thoughhe could not tell their names. They were so busily employed that thetime passed rapidly away, and evening was approaching before theythought how late it was. They did not fail, as may be supposed, to keepa bright lookout for any passing sail; but none appeared. With nearlyfour dozen fine large fish, they returned to the harbour. Nub's eyesglistened, as he came down to assist in hauling up the boat, on seeingthe number of fish.

  "No fear now of starving, I tink," he observed. "I neber thought we getso much as dat. God gives us all good tings, and we tank Him."

  The rest of the day was employed in preparing the fish and hanging themup to dry, after which a fire of green wood was placed under them; andthe doctor expressed his confidence that his plan for curing both fishand fowl would succeed.

  The mate had for some time wished to explore the island, and at supperhe proposed that they should set out the next day. Being unwilling toexpose Alice to the dangers they might have to encounter, he suggestedthat she and Walter, with Nub, should remain behind at the house; for,as they had now an ample supply of provisions, they might safely do sowithout fear of starving. They both, however, begged so hard to go,that he at length yielded to their wishes; and it was agreed that thewhole party should set off directly after breakfast the next morning.