Life And Adventures Of Peter Wilkins Part 7

CHAPTER XVIII.

Youwarkee with child--Their stock of provisions--No beast or fish in Youwarkeis country--The voices again--Her reason for not seeing those who uttered them--She bears a son--A hard speech in her lying-in--Divers birds appear--Their eggs gathered--How Wilkits kept account of time

About three months after we were married, as we called it, Youwarkee told me she believed she was breeding, and I was mightily pleased with it, for though I had had two children before by Patty, yet I had never seen either of them, so that I longed to be a father. I sometimes amused myself with whimsical conjectures, as, whether the child would have a graundee or not; which of us it would be most like; how we should do without a midwife; and what must become of the infant, as we had not milk, in case Youwarkee could not suckle it. Indeed, I had leisure enough for indulging such reveries; for, having laid in our winter stores, my wife and I had nothing to do but enjoy ourselves over a good fire, prattling and toying together, making as good cheer as we could; and truly that was none of the worst, for we had as fine bread as need to be eaten; we had pears preserved; all sorts of dried fish; and once a fortnight, for two or three days together, had fresh fish; we had vinegar, and a biting herb which I had found, for pepper; and several sorts of nuts; so there was no want.

It was at this time, after my return from watering one day, where Youwarkee had been with me, that, having taken several fish, and amongst them some I had not before seen, I asked her, as we were preparing and salting some of them, how they managed fish in her country, and what variety they had of them there. She told me she neither ever saw nor heard of a fish in her life till she came to me. "How!" says I, "no fish amongst you? Why, you want one of the greatest dainties that can be set upon a table. Do you wholly eat flesh," says I, "at Doorpt Sw.a.n.geanti?"--"Flesh," says she laughingly, "of what?"--"Nay," says I, "you know best what the beasts of your own country are. We have in England, where I was born and bred, oxen, very large hogs, sheep, lambs, and calves; these make our ordinary dishes: then we have deer, hares, rabbits, and these are reckoned dainties; besides numberless kinds of poultry, and fish without stint"--"I never heard of any of these things in my life," says Youwarkee, "nor did I ever eat anything but fruits and herbs, and what is made from them, at Normnbdsgrsutt."--"You will speak that crabbed word," says I, "again."--"I beg your pardon, my dear,"

says she; "at Doorpt Sw.a.n.geanti, I say; nor I, nor any one else, to my knowledge, ever ate any such thing; but seeing you eat fish, as you call them, I made no scruple of doing so too, and like them very well, especially the salted ones, for I never tasted what you call salt neither till I came here."--"I cannot think," says I, "what sort of a country yours is, or how you all live there."--"Oh," says she, "there is no want; I wish you and I were there." I was afraid I had talked too much of her country already, so we called a new cause.

Soon after winter had set in, as we were in bed one night, I heard the voices again; and though my wife had told me of her countryfolk's sw.a.n.geans in that place, I, being frighted a little, waked her; and she hearing them too, cried out, "There they are! it is ten to one but my sister or some of our family are there. Hark! I believe I hear her voice." I myself hearkened very attentively; and by this time understanding a great deal of their language, I not only could distinguish different speakers, but knew the meaning of several of the words they p.r.o.nounced.

I would have had Youwarkee have gotten up and called to them. "Not for the world," says she; "have you a mind to part with me? Though I have no intent to leave you, as I am with child, if they should try to force me away without my consent, I may receive some injury, to the danger of my own life, or at least of the child's." This reason perfectly satisfying me, endeared the loving creature to me ten times more, if possible, than ever.

The next summer brought me a yawm,* as fair as alabaster.

* Man-child.

My wife was delivered without the usual a.s.sistance, and had as favourable a labour as could be. The first thing I did, after giving her some fish-soup, made as skilfully as I was able, and a little cordial, was to see if my yawm had the graundee or not. Finding it had--"So,"

says I to Youwarkee, "you have brought me a legitimate heir to my dominions, whose t.i.tle sure cannot be disputed, being one of you."

Though I spoke this with as much pleasure, and in as endearing a way as ever I spoke in my life, and quite innocently, the poor Youwarkee burst into tears to such excess there was no pacifying her. I asked her the reason of her grief, begged and entreated her to let me know what disturbed her, but all in vain; till, seeing me in a violent pa.s.sion, such as I had never before appeared to be in, she told me she was very sorry I should question her fidelity to me. She surprised me in saying this, as I never had any such apprehension. "No, my dearest wife," says I, "I never had any such suspicion as you charge me with, I can safely affirm; nor can I comprehend your meaning by imputing such a thing to me."--"Oh!" says she, "I am sure you have no cause for it; but you said the poor child was one of us; as much as to intimate that had it been your own, it would have been born as you were, without the graundee, which thought I cannot bear, and if you continue to think so it must end me; therefore take away my life now, rather than let me live to see my farther misery."

I was heartily sorry for what I had said, when I saw the effects of it, though I did not imagine it could have been perverted to such a contrary meaning. But considering her to be the faithful-lest and most loving creature upon earth, and that true love cannot bear anything that touches upon or can be applied (though with ever so forced a construction) to an opprobrious or contemptuous meaning, I attributed her groundless resentment to her excess of fondness only for me; and falling upon the bed by her, and bathing her face in my tears, I a.s.sured her the interpretation she had put on my words was altogether foreign from the view they were spoken with; professing to her that I never had, nor ever could have, the least cause of jealousy. On my confirming this absolute confidence in her virtue by the strongest a.s.severations, she grew fully convinced of her error, and acknowledged she had been too rash in censuring me; and growing pleased at my fresh professions of love to her, we presently were reconciled, and became again very good friends.

When Youwarkee had gathered strength again, she proved an excellent nurse to my Pedro (for that was the name I gave him), so that he soon grew a charming child, able to go in his twelvemonth, and spoke in his twentieth. This and two other lovely boys I had by her in three years, every one of which she brought up with the breast, and they thrived delicately.

I don't mention the little intervening occurrences which happened during this period; they consisted chiefly of the old rota of fis.h.i.+ng, watering, providing in the summer for the winter, and in managing my salt-work; which altogether kept me at full employment, comfortably to maintain an increasing family.

In this time I had found out several new sorts of eatables. I had observed, as I said before, abundance of birds about the wood and lake in the summer months. These, by firing at them two or three times on my first coming, I had almost caused to desert my dominions. But as I had for the last two or three years given no disturbance at all to them, they were now in as great plenty as ever; and I made great profit of them by the peace they enjoyed; and yet my table never wanted a supply, fresh in the summer, or salted and pickled in winter.

I took notice it was about October these birds used to come; and most of the month of November they were busy in laying their eggs, which I used at that time to find in great plenty along the banks of the lake in the reeds, and made great collections of them; I used also to find a great many in the woods amongst the shrubs and underwood. These furnished our table various ways; for with my cream-cheese flour, and a little mixture of ram's-horn juice, I had taught my wife to make excellent puddings of them; abundance of them also we ate boiled or fried alone, and often as sauce to our fish. As for the birds themselves, having long omitted to fire at them, I had an effectual means of taking them otherwise by nets, which I set between the trees, and also very large pitfall nets, with which I used to catch all sorts, even from the size of a thrush to that of a turkey. But as I shall say more of these when I come to speak of my ward by and by, and of my poultry, I shall omit any further mention of them here.

You may perhaps wonder how I could keep an account of my time so precisely, as to talk of the particular months. I will tell you. At my coming from America, I was then exact; for we set sail the fourteenth of November, and struck the first or second day of February. So far I kept perfect reckoning; but after that I was not so exact, though I kept it as well as my perplexity would admit even then, till the days shortening upon me, prevented it.

Hereupon I set about making a year for myself. I found the duration of the comparative darkness, or what might with me be termed night, in the course of the twenty-four hours, or day, gradually increased for six months; after which it decreased reciprocally for an equal time, and the lighter part of the day took its turn, as in our parts of the world, only inversely: so that as the light's decrease became sensible about the middle of March, it was at the greatest pitch the latter end of August, or beginning of September; and from thence, on the contrary, went on decreasing to the close of February, when I had the longest portion of light. Hereupon, dividing my year into two seasons only, I began the winter half in March, and the summer half in September. Thus my winter was the spring and summer quarters in Europe, and my summer those of our autumn and winter.

From my settling this matter, I kept little account of days or weeks, but only reckoned my time by summer and winter, so that I am pretty right as to the revolutions of these; though the years, as to their notation, I kept no account of, nor do I know what year of the Lord it now is.

CHAPTER XIX.

Wilkins's concern about clothing for Pedro, his eldest son-- His discourse with his wife about the s.h.i.+p--Her flight to it--His melancholy reflections till her return--An account of what she had done, and of what she brought--She clothes her children, and takes a second flight

As my boy Pedro grew up, though, as I said before, he had the graundee, yet it was of less dimensions than it ought to have been to be useful to him, so that it was visible he could never fly; for it would scarce meet before, whereas it ought to have reached from side to side both ways.

This pleased my wife to the heart; for now she was sure, whatever I had done before, I could not suspect her. Be that as it will, the boy's graundee not being a sufficient vestment for him, it became necessary he should be clothed.

I turned over my h.o.a.rd, but could find nothing that would do; or, at least, that we knew how to fit him with. I had described my own country vest for lads to Youwarkee, and she formed a tolerable idea of it, but we had no tackle to alter anything with. "Oh, my dear," says I, "had I but been born with the graundee, I need not be now racking my brains to get my child clothes."--"What do you mean by that?" says she.--"Why,"

says I, "I would have flown to my s.h.i.+p (for I had long before related to her all my sea adventures, till the vessel's coming to the magnetical rock), and have brought some such things from thence, as you, not wanting them in this country, can have no notion of." She seemed mighty inquisitive to understand how a s.h.i.+p was made, what it was most like to, how a person who never saw one might know it only by the description, and how one might get into it; with abundance of the like questions.

She then inquired what sort of things those needles and several other utensils were, which I had at times been speaking of; and in what part of a s.h.i.+p they usually kept such articles. And I, to gratify her curiosity, as I perceived she took a pleasure in hearing me, answered all her questions to a scruple; not then conceiving the secret purpose of all this inquisitiveness.

About two days after this, having been out two or three hours in the morning, to cut wood, at coming home I found Pedro crying, ready to break his heart, and his little brother Tommy hanging to him and crawling about the floor after him: the youngest pretty baby was fast asleep upon one of the beast-fish skins, in a corner of the room. I asked Pedro for his mother; but the poor infant had nothing farther to say to the matter, than "Mammy run away, I cry! mammy run away, I cry!" I wondered where she was gone, never before missing her from our habitation. However, I waited patiently till bed-time, but no wife.

I grew very uneasy then; yet, as my children were tired and sleepy, I thought I had best go to bed with them, and make quiet; so, giving all three their suppers, we lay down together. They slept; but my mind was too full to permit the closure of my eyes. A thousand different chimeras swam in my imagination relating to my wife. One while I fancied her carried away by her kinsfolks; then, that she was gone of her own accord to make peace with her father. But that thought would not fix, being put aside by her constant tenderness to her children and regard to me, whom I was sure she would not have left without notice. "But alas!" says I, "she may even now be near me, but taken so ill she cannot get home, or she may have died suddenly in the wood." I lay tumbling and tossing in great anxiety, not able to find out any excusable occasion she could have of so long absence. And then, thinks I, if she should either be dead, or have quite left me, which will be of equally bad consequence to me, what can I do with three poor helpless infants? If they were a little more grown up, they might be helpful to me and to each other; but at their age how shall I ever rear them without the tenderness of a mother? And to see them pine away before my face, and not know how to help them, will distract me.

Finding I could neither sleep nor lie still, I rose, intending to search all the woods about, and call to her, that if any accident had prevented sight of her she might at least hear me. But upon opening the door, and just stepping out, how agreeably was I surprised to meet her coming in, with something on her arm. "My dear Youwarkee," says I, "where have you been? What has befallen you to keep you out so long? The poor children have been at their wits' end to find you; and I, my dear, have been inconsolable, and was now, almost distracted, coming in search of you."

Youwarkee looked very blank, to think what concern she had given me and the children. "My dearest Peter," says she, kissing me, "pray forgive me the only thing I have ever done to offend you, and the last cause you shall ever have, by my good will, to complain of me; but walk within doors, and I will give you a farther account of my absence. Don't you remember what delight I took the other day to hear you talk of your s.h.i.+p?"--"Yes," says I, "you did so; but what of that?"--"Nay, pray,"

says she, "forgive me, for I have been to see it."--"That's impossible,"

says I; and truly this was the first time I ever thought she went about to deceive me.--"I do a.s.sure you," says she, "I have; and a wonderful thing it is! But if you distrust me, and what I say, I have brought proof of it; step out with me to the verge of the wood, and satisfy yourself."--"But pray," says I, "who presented you with this upon your arm?"--"I vow," says she, "I had forgot this: yes, this will, I believe, confirm to you what I have said."--I turned it over and over; and looking wistfully upon her, says I, "This waistcoat, indeed, is the very fellow to one that lay in the captain's locker in the cabin"--"Say not the very fellow," says she, "but rather say the very same, for I'll a.s.sure you it is so; and had you been with me, we might have got so many things for ourselves and the children, we should never have wanted more, though we had lived these hundred years; but as it is, I have left something without the wood for you to bring up." When we had our talk out, she, hearing the children stir, took them up, and was going, as she always did, to get their breakfasts. "Hold," says I, "this journey must have fatigued you too much already; lay yourself to rest, and leave everything else to me."--"My dear," says she, "you seem to think this flight tiresome, but you are mistaken; I am more weary with walking to the lake and back again, than with all the rest. Oh," says she, "if you had but the graundee, flying would rest you, after the greatest labour; for the parts which are moved with exercise on the earth, are all at rest in flight; as, on the contrary, the parts used in flight are when on earthly travel. The whole trouble of flight is in mounting from the plain ground; but when once you are upon the graundee at a proper height, all the rest is play, a mere trifle; you need only think of your way, and incline to it, your graundee directs you as readily as your feet obey you on the ground, without thinking of every step you take; it does not require labour, as your boat does, to keep you a-going."

After we had composed ourselves, we walked to the verge of the wood, to see what cargo my wife had brought from the s.h.i.+p. I was astonished at the bulk of it; and seeing, by the outside, it consisted of clothes, I took it with much ado upon my shoulders and carried it home. But upon opening it, I found far more treasure than I could have imagined; for there was a hammer, a great many spikes and nails, three spoons, about five plates of pewter, four knives and a fork, a small china punchbowl, two chocolate cups, a paper of needles, and several of pins, a parcel of coa.r.s.e thread, a pair of shoes, and abundance of such other things as she had heard me wish for and describe; besides as much linen and woollen, of one sort or another, as made a good package for all the other things; with a great tin porridge-pot, of about two gallons, tied to the outside; and all these as nicely stowed as if she had been bred a packer.

When I had viewed the bundle, and poised the weight, "How was it possible, my dear You-warkee," said I, "for you to bring all this?

You could never carry them in your hands."--"No, no," replied she, "I carried them on my back."--"Is it possible," says I, "for your graundee to bear yourself and all this weight too in the air, and to such a height as the top of these rocks?"--"You will always," replies she, "make the height a part of your difficulty in flying; but you are deceived, for as the first stroke (I have heard you say often) in fighting is half the battle, so it is in flying; get but once fairly on the wind, nothing can hurt you afterwards. My method, let me tell you, was this; I climbed to the highest part of the s.h.i.+p, where I could stand clear, having first put up my burden, which you have there; and then getting that on my back near my shoulders, I took the two cords you see hang loose to it in my two hands, and extending my graundee, leaped off flatwise with my face towards the water; when instantly playing two or three good strokes with my graundee, I was out of danger; now, if I had found the bundle too heavy to make my first strokes with, I should directly have turned on my back, dropped my bundle, and floated in my graundee to the s.h.i.+p again, as you once saw me float on the lake." Says I, "You must have flown a prodigious distance to the lake, for I was several days sailing, I believe three weeks, from my s.h.i.+p, before I reached the gulf; and after that could be little less than five weeks (as I accounted for it), and at a great rate of sailing too under the rock, before I reached the lake; so that the s.h.i.+p must be a monstrous way off." "No, no," says she, "your s.h.i.+p lies but over yon cliff, that rises as it were with two points; and as to the rock itself, it is not broader than our lake is long; but what made you so tedious in your pa.s.sage was many of the windings and turnings in the cavern returning in to themselves again; so that you might have gone round and round till this time, if the tide had not luckily struck you into the direct pa.s.sage: this," says she, "I have heard from some of my countrymen, who have flown up it, but could never get quite through."

"I wish with all my heart," says I, "fortune had brought me first to light in this country; or (but for your sake I could almost say) had never brought me into it at all; for to be a creature of the least significancy, of the whole race but one, is a melancholy circ.u.mstance."--"Fear not," says she, "my love, for you have a wife will hazard all for you, though you are restrained; and as my inclinations and affections are so much yours, that I need but know your desires to execute them as far as my power extends, surely you, who can act by another, may be content to forego the trouble of your own performance. I perceive, indeed," continued she, "you want mightily to go to your s.h.i.+p, and are more uneasy now you know it is safe than you was before; but that being past my skill to a.s.sist you in, if you will command your deputy to go backwards and forwards in your stead, I am ready to obey you."

Thus ended our conversation about the s.h.i.+p for that time. But it left not my mind so soon; for a stronger hankering after it pursued me now than ever since my wife's flight, but to no purpose.

We sat us down and sorted out our cargo, piece by piece; and having found several things proper for the children, my wife longed to enter upon some piece of work towards clothing Pedro in the manner she had heard me talk of, and laid hard at me to show her the use of the needles, thread, and other things she had brought. Indeed I must say she proved very tractable; and from the little instruction I was able to give her, soon out-wrought my knowledge; for I could only show her that the thread went through the needle, and both through the cloth to hold it together; but for anything else I was as ignorant as she. In much less time than I could have imagined, she had clothed my son Pedro, and had made a sort of mantle for the youngest. But now seeing us so smart (for I took upon me sometimes to wear the green waistcoat she had brought under my dirty jacket), she began to be ashamed of herself, as she said, in our fine company; and afterwards (as I shall soon acquaint you) got into our fas.h.i.+on.

Seeing the advantages her flight to the s.h.i.+p, and that so many conveniences arose from it, she was frequently at me to let her go again. I should as much have wished for another return of goods as she, but I could by no means think of parting with my factor; for I knew her eagerness to please me, and that she would stick at nothing to perform it. And, thinks I, should any accident happen to her, by over-loading or otherwise, and I should lose her, all the other commodities of the whole world put together would not compensate her loss. But as she so earnestly desired it, and a.s.sured me she would run no hazards, I was prevailed on at length, by her incessant importunities, to let her go; though under certain restrictions which she promised me to comply with.

As first, I insisted upon it that she should take a tour quite round the rock, setting out the same way I had last gone with my boat; and, if possible, find out the gulf, which I told her she could not mistake, by reason of the noise the fall of the water made; and desired her to remark the place, so as I might know within-side where it was without.

And then I told her she might review and search every hole in the s.h.i.+p as she pleased; and if there were any small things she had a mind to bring from it, she was welcome, provided the bundle she should make up was not above a fourth part either of the bulk or weight of the last.

All which she having engaged punctually to observe, she bade me not expect her till I saw her, and she would return as soon as possible. I then went with her to the confines of the wood (for I told her I desired to see her mount), and she, after we had embraced, bidding me to stand behind her, took her flight.

CHAPTER XX.

The Author observes her flight--A description of a glumm in the graundee--She finds out the gulf not far from the s.h.i.+p--Brings home more goods--Makes her a gown by her husband's instruction

I had ever since our marriage been desirous of seeing Youwarkee fly; but this was the first opportunity I had of it; and indeed the sight was worthy of all the attention I paid it; for I desired her slowly to put herself in proper order for it, that I might make my observation the more accurately; and shall now give you an account of the whole apparatus, though several parts of the description were taken from subsequent views; for it would have been impossible to have made just remarks of everything at that once, especially as I only viewed her back parts then.

I told you before, I had seen her graundee open, and quite extended as low as her middle; but that being in the grotto by lamplight, I could not take so just a survey as now, when the sort of light we ever had was at the brightest.

She first threw up two long branches or ribs of the whalebone, as I called it before (and indeed for several of its properties, as toughness, elasticity, and pliableness, nothing I have ever seen can so justly be compared to it), which were jointed behind to the upper bone of the spine, and which, when not extended, lie bent over the shoulders on each side of the neck forwards, from whence, by nearer and nearer approaches, they just meet at the lower rim of the belly in a sort of point; but when extended, they stand their whole length above the shoulders, not perpendicularly, but spreading outwards, with a web of the softest and most pliable and springy membrane that can be imagined, in the interstice between them, reaching from their root or joint on the back up above the hinder part of the head, and near half-way their own length; but when closed, the membrane falls down in the middle upon the neck, like a handkerchief. There are also two other ribs rising as it were from the same root, which, when open, run horizontally, but not so long as the others. These are filled up in the interstice between them and the upper ones with the same membrane; and on the lower side of this is also a deep flap of the membrane, so that the arms can be either above or below it in flight, and are always above it when closed. This last rib, when shut, flaps under the upper one, and also falls down with it before to the waist, but is not joined to the ribs below. Along the whole spine-bone runs a strong, flat, broad, grisly cartilage, to which are joined several other of these ribs; all which open horizontally, and are filled in the interstices with the above membrane, and are jointed to the ribs of the person just where the plane of the back begins to turn towards the breast and belly; and, when shut, wrap the body round to the joints on the contrary side, folding neatly one side over the other. At the lower spine are two more ribs, extended horizontally when open, jointed again to the hips, and long enough to meet the joint on the contrary side cross the belly; and from the hip-joint, which is on the outermost edge of the hip-bone, runs a pliable cartilage quite down the outside of the thigh and leg to the ankle; from which there branch out divers other ribs horizontally also when open, but when closed, they encompa.s.s the whole thigh and leg, rolling inwards cross the back of the leg and thigh till they reach and just cover the cartilage. The interstices of these are also filled up with the same membrane. From the two ribs which join to the lower spine-bone, there hangs down a sort of short ap.r.o.n, very full of plaits, from hip-joint to hip-joint, and reaches below the b.u.t.tocks, half-way or more to the hams. This has also several small limber ribs in it. Just upon the lower spine-joint, and above the ap.r.o.n, as I call it, there are two other long branches, which, when close, extend upon the back from the point they join at below to the shoulders, where each rib has a clasper, which reaching over the shoulders, just under the fold of the uppermost branch or ribs, hold up the two ribs flat to the back like a V, the interstices of which are also filled up with the aforesaid membrane. This last piece, in flight, falls down almost to the ankles, where the two claspers lapping under each leg within-side, hold it very fast; and then also the short ap.r.o.n is drawn up by-the strength of the ribs in it, between the thighs forward, and covers the pudenda and groin as far as the rim of the belly. The whole arms are covered also from the shoulders to the wrist with the same delicate membrane, fastened to ribs of proportionable dimensions, and jointed to a cartilage on the outside in the same manner as on the legs.

It is very surprising to feel the difference of these ribs when open and when closed; for, closed, they are as pliable as the finest whalebone, or more so, but when extended, are as strong and stiff as a bone. They are tapering from the roots, and are broader or narrower as best suits the places they occupy, and the stress they are put to, up to their points, which are almost as small as a hair. The membrane between them is the most elastic thing I ever met with, occupying no more s.p.a.ce, when the ribs are closed, than just from rib to rib, as flat and smooth as possible; but when extended in some postures, will dilate itself surprisingly. This will be better comprehend by the plates, where you will see several figures of glumms and gawrys in different att.i.tudes, than can be expressed by words.

As soon as my wife had expanded the whole graundee, being upon plain ground, she stooped forward, moving with a heavy wriggling motion at first, which put me into some pain for her; but after a few strokes, beginning to rise a little, she cut through the air like lightning, and was soon over the edge of the rock and out of my sight.

It is the most amazing thing in the world to observe the large expansion of this graundee when open; and when closed (as it all is in a moment upon the party's descent) to see it sit so close and compact to the body, as no tailor can come up to it; and then the several ribs lie so justly disposed in the several parts, that instead of being, as one would imagine, a disadvantage to the shape, they make the body and limbs look extremely elegant; and by the different adjustment of their lines on the body and limbs, the whole, to my fancy, somewhat resembles the dress of the old Roman warriors in their buskins; and, to appearance, seems much more n.o.ble than any fict.i.tious garb I ever saw, or can frame a notion of to myself.

Though these people, in height, shape, and limb, very much resemble the Europeans, there is yet this difference, that their bodies are rather broader and flatter, and their limbs, though as long and well shaped, are seldom as thick as ours. And this I observed generally in all I saw of them during a long time among them afterwards; but their skin, for beauty and fairness, exceeds ours very much.

My wife having now taken her second flight, I went home, and never left my children till her return; this was three days after our parting. I was in bed with my little ones when she knocked at the door. I soon let her in, and we received each other with a glowing welcome. The news she brought me was very agreeable. She told me she first went and pried into every nook in the s.h.i.+p, where she had seen such things, could we get at them, as would make us very happy. Then she set out the way I told her to go, in order to find the gulf. She was much afraid she should not have discovered it, though she flew very slow, that she might be sure to hear the waterfall and not over-shoot it. It was long ere she came at it; but when she did, she perceived she might have spared most of her trouble, had she set out the other way; for, after she had flown almost round the island, and not before, she began to hear the fall, and upon coming up to it, found it to be not above six minutes' flight from the s.h.i.+p. She said the entrance was very narrow, and, she thought, lower than I represented it; for she could scarce discern any s.p.a.ce between the surface of the water and the arch-way of the rock. I told her that might happen from the rise or fall of the sea itself. But I was glad to hear the s.h.i.+p was no farther from the gulf; for my head was never free from the thoughts of my s.h.i.+p and cargo. She then told me she had left a small bundle for me without the wood, and went to look after her children. I brought up the bundle, and though it was not near so large as the other, I found several useful things in it, wrapped up in four or five yards of dark blue woollen cloth, which I knew no name for, but which was thin and light, and about a yard wide. I asked her where she met with this stuff; she answered, where there was more of it, under a thing like our bed, in a cloth like our sheet, which she cut open, and took it out of.--"Well," says I, "and what will you do with this?"--"Why, I will make me a coat like yours," says she, "for I don't like to look different from my dear husband and children."--"No, Youwarkee," replied I, "you must not do so; if you make such a jacket as mine, there will be no distinction between glumm and gawry;* the gowren praave,** in my country, would not on any account go dressed like a glumm; for they wear a fine flowing garment called a gown, that sits tight about the waist, and hangs down from thence in folds, like your barras, *** almost to the ground, so that you can hardly discern their feet, and no other part of their body but their hands and face, and about as much of their neck and b.r.e.a.s.t.s as you see in your graundee."

* Man and woman.