In the Eastern Seas Part 12

Soon after, we had reached the beach where we had landed. We found the sand soft and fine. Macco looked about, and then exclaimed, "Ha, ha!

here's somet'ing;" and he began digging away with the bamboo spade. In a short time he produced a couple of turtle's eggs: we hunted, and soon found several more. "Dese do till tide go down and we find sh.e.l.l-fish,"

he observed.

Though very hungry, I had no fancy for eating turtle's eggs raw. "We must try and find the means of lighting a fire," I observed. "Do you think, Macco, you could produce a flame with two pieces of wood, as is done in some countries?"

"Not so sure," he answered; "but if we had flint, I soon find pith to set on fire."

From the character of the island, which appeared to be entirely volcanic, I had no hope of finding flints. Just then it flashed across me that a few days before I had been using a gla.s.s from my telescope as a burning-gla.s.s, and I recollected putting it in my pocket on being called off suddenly to attend to some duty; I had little hope, however, of finding it unbroken. I put my hands into my trowsers pockets, and then into my jacket pockets, but it was not there; neither was it in my waistcoat pockets, but there was a hole in one of them, and after feeling about, I found it had worked its way round into the corner of the waistcoat by my side. It had thus escaped being broken, or discovered by the Malays when they took away our money. I produced it with great satisfaction. Macco ran off immediately, and came back with some dried pith and a bundle of sticks. We soon produced a flame and had a fire burning. Macco then made a collection of round stones, which he put on the fire, at the same time filling one of the sh.e.l.ls with water. "Too much water," he observed, turning some of it out. He then transferred the hot stones to the water, which began bubbling and hissing as if it were boiling. "Put in the eggs," he observed; "soon boil dem." We followed his advice, and in four or five minutes the eggs were boiled thoroughly, quite as well as if they had been put into a pot on the fire. We had now no danger of starving, for the present at all events; and indeed, if we could manufacture the sago, we might supply ourselves with food sufficient to last for any length of time.

The tide had, meantime, been going out, and here and there where the rocks were exposed we caught sight of sh.e.l.l-fish. I, however, knowing even in that climate the danger of sleeping entirely exposed to the night air without a roof over the head, advised my companions at once to set to work and build a hut. We accordingly went back to the sago-palm grove, and cut down as many of the leaves as we could carry. With these we returned to the beach, on the highest part of which, just under the trees, we proposed putting up a temporary hut, till we could get a more permanent building. We soon had an edifice erected, something like a North American Indian wigwam, into which we could all creep and lie conveniently at full length. By this time the tide had gone down, and by crawling along the rocks, Macco was able to capture a number of sh.e.l.l-fish. This he did by cutting them off the rock with the bamboo spear: our only fear was lest they should be poisonous. We asked him what he thought about the matter. "All right," he answered; "dem good for eat." He had brought an ample supply for our supper; some were roasted, but others were boiled as we had done the turtle's eggs. After this, commending ourselves to One whom we knew would watch over us, we lay down in our small hut to sleep.

The sun was just rising out of the horizon when we awoke; the sea was calm and blue, and the sky was beautifully clear. Our first discussion while at breakfast on turtle's eggs, was the best means of manufacturing the sago. If we could get a tree cut down, there would not be much difficulty; but how to fell it with our clasp-knives was the question.

"Perseverance conquers all difficulties," observed Oliver. "I remember the story of the mouse letting the lion out of the net by nibbling away at the meshes. We can work away at the stem with our knives, and do a little every day, in the meantime subsisting on the eggs and the sh.e.l.l-fish."

"Yes, yes," said Macco; "we choose small tree, enough for us to live on for many days, and we soon have him down."

Before starting, however, the tide being still low, we collected a further supply of sh.e.l.l-fish. As we were proceeding along the beach, we saw, just rising as it were out of the water, a small ridge. "What can that be?" I said, drawing nearer to it. I saw, as I got close to the water's edge, that it was a huge bivalve. As far as I could judge, it was alive. I called my companions, and catching hold of it, we dragged it up, though our united strength could with difficulty accomplish our object.

"Take care no put hand inside," said Macco, "or he bite bery hard!"

I am certain that I am right when I say that it could not have weighed much less than a hundredweight. It would afford us not only one, but several meals probably, if the creature inside bore any proportion to his house. I did not know the name at the time, but I afterwards learned that it must have been a specimen of the _Tridacna gigas_. I have since heard that the sh.e.l.ls themselves, without the mollusc, weigh even more than that; indeed, I afterwards saw some in use of larger size. Having captured our prize, however, we found that there was some chance of our not being able to get at the mollusc inside; for when the difficulty of opening an ordinary oyster-sh.e.l.l is remembered, the force required to get at the inside of so large a sh.e.l.l as this would be no easy task. It was important, however, to get the creature out at once, for if it were exposed to the sun, it would, in all probability, not be fit to eat by the evening. Macco, ever fertile in resource, ran off, and soon returned with a supply of bamboos, which he split up into fine long wedges. He hunted about on every side till he found a small opening; into this he instantly inserted the fine point of a piece of bamboo, and going round the sh.e.l.l, placed another in a similar position.

There was no lack of pieces of coral rock lying about which had been broken off by the sea, and thrown up on the beach; these served as hammers. "Now," he cried out, "strike! strike altogether!" We did so, but Oliver's instrument and mine made no impression; Macco's, however, went right in, and seemed to cut some part of the creature; for directly afterwards, by using the wedges as levers, we lifted up one of the valves, and exposed to view a huge ma.s.s of blubber-like flesh. Macco seemed highly delighted. "Dat bery good, bery good!" he exclaimed, and soon cut the whole away from the sh.e.l.l, and held it up to let the water run out.

"I should be very hungry before I could eat that," I observed.

"Ah, Ma.s.sa Walter," he answered, "you will be bery hungry if you no eat dis, and many oder curious t'ings. De great t'ing is, if good to eat.

If good, no mind looks; better to eat dis dan starve."

With some powerful blows, he separated the two sh.e.l.ls, and now begged us to carry them up to the hut. "Dey hold water," he observed; "and we soon have all we want to live well." Having made up the fire, he cut three very long bamboo stakes, with which he made a triangle over it, so high that the flames could not reach the poles to burn them. From the centre he hung down the huge mollusc, so that the smoke might circle round it. "Dere," he said, "dis now dry, and keep well till we want eat it."

CHAPTER TWELVE.

OUR LIFE ON THE ISLAND.

The success we had already met with in finding food raised our spirits; but I knew the risk we should run of losing our health if we could not obtain vegetables was very great. I therefore urged my companions to set to work at once and try to get the sago manufactured.

"Come directly," said Macco, collecting a quant.i.ty of half-dried leaves.

These he placed on the fire. He then covered them up with green twigs, thereby preventing the flames bursting out, at the same time producing an abundant smoke. "Dere, dat do bery well," he observed. "No creature come to carry off de fish, and he well dry when we come back."

I cannot say I felt any great confidence in the success of his experiment; and I thought it of no great importance even should it fail, as I began to hope that we should have a sufficient supply of food. We soon found a palm of moderate dimensions, which we might hope, even with our knives, to cut down in the course of a day or two by working away a.s.siduously. What, however, would take us several days, a sharp axe would accomplish almost in the course of almost as many minutes.

However, we could all three work at once.

"You take one side, Oliver; Macco, you take another; and I will take a third," I observed.

"Stay, Ma.s.sa Walter," he answered; "you no want to break head. Do dis first. You cut here; Oliver cut here; and I go make rope."

Some ratans were growing not far off; he immediately began cutting them away, and having collected a large supply, twisted them ingeniously into a rope. Oliver and I had made apparently but little impression in the tree by the time he had done so. Taking the rope, he climbed up as before, to a considerable height, where he fastened it, and then carried the other end to another tree at some little distance, so that it might fall to the ground clear of its companions.

"Now," he said, "do bery well;" and taking out his knife, he began to work away with great energy. So dexterously did he ply his instrument, that he soon had made almost as much impression as we had done, who had been working so much longer a time. The ratans I speak of, though allied to palms, are creepers. They grow from the ground, climbing up a tree, and then running along the branches, and descending again, mount up another tree, or sometimes climb from branch to branch. They often encircle a tree, which, in time, is completely destroyed; while they survive, forming an extraordinary intricate ma.s.s of natural cordage on the ground. In some places the original trunk had entirely disappeared, leaving only the ratan. They greatly ornament the forest as they hang in graceful festoons from branch to branch, or adorn their summits with feathery crowns of leaves, their highest points being erect leafy spikes which rise up above all the other foliage.

Macco had collected several lengths of this curious creeper, each perhaps of fifty fathoms; and having twisted them together, had formed a very strong rope. The natives make their cables of them, as well as the standing rigging of their masts; indeed, they are used for all sorts of stout cordage. While we were working away, looking up, I saw on the branch of a tree, at no great distance, as if watching our proceedings, an animal with a small head and very large bright eyes. He was covered, apparently, with very thick fur, and, I soon saw, had also a long tail, which was curled on a branch below him. As we did not move, he began eating away in a fearless manner the leaves from a branch which hung near his snout. He reminded me somewhat of the opossum, covered with thick, pure white fur, on which appeared a few black spots of various shapes. I pointed him out at length to Macco. "He good eat," he whispered. "I catch him." Several pieces of small ratan lay near us, and taking one of them, he formed a noose, with which in his hand he crept towards the tree. On considering what the animal could be, I recollected one called the cuscus, a picture of which I had seen in one of Mr Hooker's books. "Yes, I am sure that must be a cuscus. It is a marsupial, or pouch-possessing animal, like the kangaroo," I said to Oliver. Macco quickly climbed the tree, and reached a branch just above the cuscus. Not till then did the creature catch sight of him, and began moving along the branch, but at a very slow pace. Macco immediately climbed down towards us and followed it. Just, however, as he was approaching, cuscus let go his hold, hanging down by his tail.

It was a fatal manoeuvre, for Macco's noose was immediately let drop, and quickly drawn over the head of poor cuscus, who in vain tried to liberate himself with his claws. He was now a captive, and Macco, keeping the noose tight, descended the tree. Cuscus held on by his long prehensile tail; but Macco pulled and pulled, and down the animal came with a flop to the ground. His claws were so sharp, that it was rather difficult to take hold of him without the risk of being severely scratched. Macco called out to us to bring him one of the bamboo spears. With this he transfixed the poor creature to the ground; but even then it struggled, and not till he had made use of his knife, half severing the head from the body, did the creature die. It looked somewhat, in its white, woolly covering, like a small, fat lamb; but it had short legs, hand-like feet, with large claws.

"He make bery good dinner for us," observed Macco. "No fear of our starving. Dat good t'ing."

Oliver and I were very glad, and thanked him very much for catching the creature. However, I urged him to go back at once, that we might continue our work on the sago-tree, for I was sure that, though by eating flesh and fish we might support our lives, we should not retain our health without bread, or a subst.i.tute for it, which the sago would afford. From the height of the sun, in addition to the hints of our own appet.i.tes, we guessed that it was already past noon. We therefore proposed returning with the cuscus to our hut. Tying up the legs of our prize with the ratan, we pa.s.sed a piece of bamboo through them, and took our way by the path we had cut to the beach. Our fire was out, and the number of flies collected round our mollusc made us doubtful whether we were not too late to preserve it from destruction.

"Soon drive dem away," said Macco, and bringing fresh fuel, he piled it up under the triangle. "I get fire dis time," he said. "I see man on board de prow do it de oder day."

Taking a piece of bamboo sharpened like a knife in one hand, he held another piece in the other, split in two, with the convex part uppermost, in which he had cut a small notch. He began pa.s.sing the sharp piece slowly over the other, as a fiddler does his bow over his fiddle--strings, increasing in rapidity, till, in a very short time, the powder produced by the friction ignited, and fell down upon the ashes.

This he quickly blew up, and even more rapidly than I could have done with my burning-gla.s.s, a flame was produced. The smoke which ascended soon sent some of the flies to a distance, while the others fell down into the fire. This gave us a hint that we must not leave any of our food exposed, or that it would very quickly be destroyed.

"Cuscus better for dinner dan dis," he said, for he had heard me name the creature; and he at once began to draw off the skin; then cutting some slices off the animal, he soon had them toasting on forked sticks before the fire.

"I wish I had some salt," I observed, pointing to the large sh.e.l.l in which we had boiled our eggs. The water had evaporated, leaving the sides and stones covered with saline particles. By sc.r.a.ping this off, we had an ample supply of salt for our meat.

"It strikes me, Mr Walter," said Oliver, "that we may be able to manufacture enough salt to preserve the animals we kill, for the time may come when we may not be able to obtain any, and possibly it might be a better way of preserving them than by drying them in the smoke."

"In dry, cool weather we might do so," I observed; "but in this hot climate I doubt whether we could get the salt in with sufficient rapidity to stop putrefaction. However, of course, it would a.s.sist in preserving the meat."

"I am afraid you are right, Mr Walter," he answered. "At all events, it is satisfactory to know that we can procure salt for our daily use."

"Oliver," I said, "I must ask a favour of you--it is, not to call me Mr Walter. A common misfortune has made us brothers, and as a brother, I am sure, I shall ever look upon you."

"I will do what you wish," said Oliver, "for I owe my life to you; yet, though I regard you as a brother, I do not feel myself your equal."

"Do not talk of that, my dear fellow," I said. "We will not bandy compliments. I should have been very miserable had I been left on this island by myself, or even with so honest a fellow as our dark-skinned friend here; for though we two might have been like Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday, I have often thought that Crusoe must have pa.s.sed many dull and melancholy hours, without a companion with whom he could exchange ideas on equal terms."

I felt much more at my ease after I had said this to Oliver. I had long looked upon him as a very superior lad. His earnest piety, his courage and his coolness, had made me greatly respect him. Had I been told to choose a companion in the situation in which I was placed, I certainly should have selected him. Our meal over, we went back to our sago-tree, and commenced our work. We made some progress, but still clasp-knives were very inadequate tools for the work we had undertaken. Every now and then, as we were labouring on silently, we heard the same cry of Wawk--wawk--wawk!--Wok--wok--wok! and caught sight of magnificent birds flitting among the higher branches of the trees, but so rapidly did they move, that we could scarcely distinguish their forms. We knew them, however, to be birds of paradise, which Mr Hooker had fully described to us. I knew from this that we must be on an island very close to the sh.o.r.es of New Guinea, as Mr Hooker had told me these birds are only found in that vast country, or in the surrounding islands. When Europeans first arrived at the Moluccas to obtain cloves and nutmegs, which were then supposed to be rare, and considered of great value, they saw, in the possession of the natives, dried skins of birds of beautiful plumage and unusual shape. On inquiring their name, they were told that they were G.o.d's birds. As the bodies shown them had neither feet nor wings, they easily believed the story they heard, that they had fallen from the sun, and the Portuguese therefore called them birds of the sun.

The Dutch, who came afterwards, gave them the name of birds of paradise. One of their early writers declared that no one had ever seen them alive, that they existed only in the air, invariably keeping their heads towards the sun, and never reaching earth till they died. Even as late as 1760 they were supposed to have no feet, and Linnaeus calls them footless birds of paradise. Another account says that they come to some of the spice islands of the East to eat nutmegs, which so intoxicate them, that they fall down senseless, and are then killed. Mr Hooker, however, a.s.sured me that they were found only in New Guinea, and in a few groups of islands in its immediate neighbourhood. There is a considerable number of species of this bird, all of which have a magnificent plumage. They are of moderate size, and are allied in their habits and structure to crows, starlings, and to the Australian honey-suckers. I longed to get some of these beautiful birds; but at present we had too much important work on which our existence might depend to allow me to make an attempt to obtain them.

We laboured on till the sun nearly reached the horizon, and then hurried back to our hut. As may be supposed, as we pa.s.sed along the sh.o.r.e we took an anxious look-out in every direction to ascertain if any sail was in sight; but the distant horizon still remained unbroken, as it had been since the prow which had brought us to the island had disappeared across it.

I was still unwilling to attack the mollusc; but Macco, cutting off some slices, toasted them before the fire, and declared them very good. I preferred supping on the remainder of the turtle's eggs, as did Oliver.

He, however, tried a bit of the mollusc, but agreed that, unless more perfectly cooked, it was likely to prove very indigestible. Having finished our repast, we crept into our hut. I should have said we had strewn it thickly with leaves to serve as a mattress. The nights were warm, and as there was no wind, we required no covering beyond that afforded us by the roof. We agreed, however, that as soon as we could manufacture some sago, we would build a more substantial mansion, in which we might be able to live should the rains come on.

I cannot describe the incidents of each day; for having no note-book, they are somewhat mixed up in my memory. For two days we laboured on at the tree, and had now begun to make some progress. I became somewhat eager at length, and hacked away incautiously with my knife. In so doing, I caught it in the wood; and in drawing it out again, snapped the blade across. Here was indeed a misfortune.

"O Ma.s.sa Walter," exclaimed Macco, "dat bad!"

"It is indeed," I said; "for though you and Oliver may in time get through the trunk with your knives, it will certainly take much longer."

"Not so certain of dat," said Macco. "An idea strike me. You take my knife--don't break it, though--and I come back by-and-by and see what I can do."

Saying this, he handed me his knife, and with greater caution I continued my task.