CHAPTER XXVI

Treatment of Bees—Staircase—Training of Various Animals—Manufactures, etc.

Next morning, almost before dawn, all were up and in motion; the bees had returned to their cells, and I stopped the passages with clay, leaving only a sufficient aperture for the tube of my pipe. I then smoked as much as was requisite to stupefy, without killing, the little warlike creatures. Not having a cap with a mask, such as bee-catchers usually wear, nor even gloves, this precaution was necessary. At first a humming was heard in the hollow of the tree, and a noise like the gathering tempest, which died away by degrees. All was become calm, and I withdrew my tube without the appearance of a single bee. Fritz had got up by me: we then began with a chisel and a small axe to cut out of the tree, under the bees’ hole of entrance, a piece three feet square. Before it was entirely separated, I repeated the fumigation, lest the stupefaction produced by the first smoking should have ceased, or the noise we had been just making revived the bees. As soon as I supposed them lulled again, I separated from the trunk the piece I had cut out, producing as it were the aspect of a window, through which the inside of the tree was laid open to view; and we were filled at once with joy and astonishment on beholding the immense and wonderful work of this colony of insects. There was such a stock of wax and honey, that we feared our vessels would be insufficient to contain it. The whole interior of the tree was lined with fine honeycombs. I cut them off with care, and put them in the gourds the boys constantly supplied me with. When I had somewhat cleared the cavity, I put the upper combs, in which the bees had assembled in clusters and swarms, into the gourd which was to serve as a hive, and placed it on the plank I had purposely raised. I came down, bringing with me the rest of the honeycombs, with which I filled a small cask, previously well washed in the stream. Some I kept out for a treat at dinner; and had the barrel carefully covered with cloths and planks, that the bees, when attracted by the smell, might be unable to get at it. We assembled round the table, and regaled ourselves plentifully with the delicious treat. My wife then put by the remainder; and I proposed to my sons to go back to the tree, to prevent the bees from swarming again there on being roused from their stupor, as they would not have failed to do but for the precaution I took of placing a board at the aperture, and burning a few handfuls of tobacco on it, the smell and smoke of which drove them back whenever they attempted to return. At length they desisted, and became gradually reconciled to their new residence, where their queen no doubt had settled herself. I now advised that all should watch during the night over the whole provision of honey obtained while the bees were torpid, who, when recovered, would not fail to be troublesome, and come in legions to get back to their property; and to this end we threw ourselves on our beds, in our clothes, to take an early doze. On awakening about nightfall, we found the bees quiet in the gourd, or settled in clusters upon near branches, so we went expeditiously to business. The cask of honey was emptied into a kettle, except a few prime combs, which we kept for daily consumption; the remainder, mixed with a little water, was set over a gentle fire, and reduced to a liquid consistence, strained and squeezed through a bag, and afterwards poured back into the cask, which was left upright and uncovered all night to cool. In the morning the wax was entirely separated, and had risen to the surface in a compact and solid cake, that was easily removed: beneath was the purest, most beautiful and delicate honey that could be seen; the cask was then carefully headed again, and put into cool ground near our wine-vessels. This task accomplished, I mounted to revisit the hive, and found everything in order; the bees going forth in swarms, and returning loaded with wax, from which I judged they were forming fresh edifices in their new dwelling-place. I had been surprised that the numbers occupying the trunk of the tree should find room in the gourd, till I perceived the clusters upon the branches, and I thence concluded a young queen was among each of them. In consequence, I procured another gourd, into which I shook them, and placed it by the former; thus I had the satisfaction of obtaining at an easy rate two fine hives of bees in activity.

Soon after these operations we proceeded to examine the inside of the tree. I sounded it with a pole from the opening I had made; and a stone fastened to a string served us to sound the bottom, and thus to ascertain the height and depth of the cavity. To my great surprise, the pole penetrated without any resistance to the branches on which our dwelling rested, and the stone descended to the roots. The trunk, it appeared, had wholly lost its pith, and most of its wood internally. It seems that this species of tree, like the willow in our climates, receives nourishment through the bark; for it did not look decayed, and its far-extended branches were luxuriant and beautiful in the extreme. I determined to begin our construction in its capacious hollow that very day. The undertaking appeared at first beyond our powers; but intelligence, patience, time, and a firm resolution vanquished all obstacles.

We began to cut into the side of the tree, towards the sea, a doorway equal in dimensions to the door of the captain’s cabin, which we had removed with all its framework and windows. We next cleared away from the cavity all the rotten wood, and rendered the interior even and smooth, leaving sufficient thickness for cutting out resting-places for the winding stairs, without injuring the bark. I then fixed in the centre the trunk of a tree about twenty feet in length, and a foot thick, completely stripped of its branches, in order to carry my winding staircase round it. On the outside of this trunk, and the inside of the cavity of our own tree, we formed grooves, so calculated as to correspond with the distances at which the boards were to be placed to form the stairs. These were continued till I had got to the height of the trunk round which they turned. I made two more apertures at suitable distances, and thus completely lighted the whole ascent. I also effected an opening near our room, that I might more conveniently finish the upper part of the staircase. A second trunk was fixed upon the first, and firmly sustained with screws and transverse beams. It was surrounded, like the other, with stairs cut slopingly; and thus we happily effected the stupendous undertaking of conducting it to the level of our bed-chamber. Here I made another door directly into it. To render it more solid and agreeable, I closed the spaces between the stairs with plank. I then fastened two strong ropes, the one descending the length of the central trunk, the other along the inside of our large tree, to assist in case of slipping. I fixed the sash windows taken from the captain’s cabin in the apertures we had made to give light to the stairs; and I then found I could add nothing further to my design.

I have now to relate some occurrences that took place during the construction of our staircase.

A few days after the commencement of our undertaking, our brave Flora whelped us six young puppies, all healthy, and likely to live. The number was so alarming, that I was under the necessity of drowning all but a male and female to keep up the breed. A few days later, the two she-goats gave us two kids, and our ewes five lambs: so that we now saw ourselves in possession of a pretty flock.

Next to the winding stairs, my chief occupation was the management of the young buffalo, whose wound in the nose was quite healed, so that I could lead it at will with a cord or stick passed through the orifice, as the Caffrarians do. I preferred the stick, which answered the purpose of a bit, and I resolved to break in this spirited beast for riding as well as drawing. It was already used to the shafts, and very tractable in them; but I had more trouble in inuring him to a rider, and to wearing a girth, having made one out of the old buffalo’s hide. I formed a sort of saddle with sail-cloth, and tacked it to the girth. Upon this I fixed a burden, which I increased progressively. I was indefatigable in the training of the animal, and soon brought it to carry, patiently, large bags of roots, salt, and other articles in the place of the ass. The monkey was his first rider, who stuck so close to the saddle, that in spite of the plunging and kicking of the buffalo, it was not thrown. Francis was then tried, as the lightest of the family; but throughout his excursion I led the beast with a halter, that it might not throw him off. Jack now showed some impatience to mount the animal in his turn. I next passed the stick through the buffalo’s nose, and tied strong packthread at each end of it, bringing them together over the neck of the animal, and put this new-fangled bridle into the hands of the young rider, directing him how to use it. For a time the lad kept his saddle, notwithstanding the unruly gestures of the creature; at length a side jolt threw him on the sand, without his receiving much injury. Ernest, Fritz, and lastly myself, got on successively, with more or less effect. His trotting shook us to the very centre, the rapidity of his gallop turned us giddy, and our lessons in horsemanship were reiterated many days before the animal was tamed, and could be ridden with either safety or pleasure. At last, however, we succeeded without any serious accident; and the strength and swiftness of our saddled buffalo were prodigious. It seemed to sport with the heaviest loads. My three eldest boys mounted it together now and then, and it ran with them with the swiftness of lightning.

We now began to think of manufacturing our impenetrable boots without seams, of the caoutchouc, or elastic-gum. I began with a pair for myself; and I encouraged my children to afford a specimen of their industry, by trying to form some flasks and cups that could not break. They began by making some clay moulds, which they covered with layers of gum, agreeably to the instructions I had given them. In the meanwhile I filled a pair of stockings with sand, and covered them with a layer of clay, which I first dried in the shade, and afterwards in the sun. I then took a sole of buffalo leather, well beaten, and studded round with tacks, which served me to fix it under the foot of the stocking; after this I poured the liquid gum into all the interstices, which, on drying, produced a close adhesion between the leather and stocking sole. I next proceeded to smear the whole with a coat of resin of a tolerable thickness; and as soon as this layer was dried on, I put on another, and so on till I had applied a sufficiency with my brush. After this I emptied the sand, drew out the stocking, removed the hardened clay, shook off the dust, and thus obtained a pair of seamless boots, as finished as if made by the best English workman, being pliant, warm, soft, smooth, and completely waterproof.

We had also been engaged in the construction of our fountain, which afforded a perpetual source of pleasure to my wife, and indeed to all of us. In the upper part of the stream we built with stakes and stones a kind of dam, that raised the water sufficiently to convey it into the palm-tree troughs; and afterwards, by means of a gentle slope, to glide on contiguous to our habitation, where it fell into the tortoiseshell basin, which we had elevated on stones to a certain height for our convenience; and it was so contrived that the redundant water passed off through a cane pipe fitted to it. I placed two sticks athwart each other for the gourds, that served as pales, to rest on; and we thus produced, close to our abode, an agreeable fountain, delighting with its rill, and supplying us with a pure crystal fluid, such as we frequently could not get when we drew our water from the bed of the river, which was often encumbered with the leaves and earth fallen into it, or rendered turbid by our water-fowls.