CHAPTER LIV

A General Review of the Colony after Ten Years of Establishment

It is with dismay that I cast my eyes over the number of pages I have filled, and which every day grow more numerous.

Although I should like to mention the minutest details of our domestic life, yet I have some consideration for my readers, who would throw down the book in disgust and grow weary of the monotony of the design; therefore, I must content myself with merely describing our principal occupations.

Ten years have passed away since we were thrown on this coast, each year resembling the preceding one in the similarity of its works: we had our fields to sow, our harvests to gather, and our domestic cares to attend to. These formed the almost unbroken circle of our existence. My only desire is, that the end I intended in writing this journal may be fulfilled, and that my readers, if I ever have any, may learn how, with God’s blessing, to provide for their necessities when thrown, as we have been, entirely on their own resources.

Providence had willed that the land of our exile should be in one of the most favoured quarters of the globe, and every day we offered up our thanks to Him for His goodness and beneficent kindness toward us.

The ten years we had passed were but years of conquest and establishment. We had constructed three habitations, built a solid wall across the defile, which would secure us against invasion from the wild beasts which infested the savanna. The part of the country in which we dwelt was defended by high mountains on one side, and the ocean on the other; we had traversed the whole extent, and rested in perfect surety that no enemy lurked within it. Our principal habitations were beautiful, commodious, and especially very healthy. Felsenheim was a safe retreat for us during the storms of winter, while Falcon’s Nest was our summer residence and country villa; Waldegg, Prospect Hill, and even the establishment at the defile, were like the quiet farmhouses that the traveller finds in the mountains of our own dear Switzerland.

The remembrance of our native land is never obliterated from the mind; the love of one’s birthplace is a love that survives youth, and exists in all its ardour in the bosom of the old man.

Of all our resources, the bees had prospered most; experience had taught me how to manage them, and the only trouble that I had was to provide new hives each year for the increasing swarms; and, in truth, so great was the number of our hives that they attracted a considerable flock of those birds called merops, or bee-eaters, who are extremely fond of these insects.

We finished the gallery which extended along the front of our grotto: a roof was made to the rock above it, and it rested on fourteen columns of light bamboo, which gave it an elegant and picturesque appearance; large pillars supported the gallery, around which twined the aromatic vines of the vanilla and the pepper, and each end of the gallery was terminated by a little cabinet with elevated roofs, having the appearance of Chinese pavilions, surrounded by flowers and foliage. A flight of steps led up into the gallery, which we had paved with a sort of stone so soft when dug out as to be cut with a chisel, but hardening rapidly in the sun.

The environs of our habitation were rich and agreeable; our plantations had perfectly succeeded; and between the grotto and the bay was a grove of trees and shrubs, planted in tasteful confusion, which gave the spot the aspect of an English garden.

Shark Island no longer was an arid bank of sand: palm and pine-apple trees had been planted everywhere, and the earth was covered with a carpet of vivid green; while far above the trees towered a staff, upon the top of which the Swiss flag floated gaily in the breeze.

Our European trees had grown with a strength and rapidity of vegetation almost incredible; but their fruits had lost their flavour; and whether because the soil or the air was unfavourable, the apples and pears became black and withered, the plums and apricots were nothing but hard kernels surrounded by a tough skin. On the other hand, the indigenous productions, multiplied a hundred-fold: the bananas, the figs, the guavas, the oranges and the citron, made our corner of the island a complete terrestrial paradise, where all the riches of vegetation were assembled. But the abundance of fruit brought on another plague: multitudes of pillagers, in the shape of birds, flocked to the spot. We kept our bird-snares always ready, and it sometimes happened that an unknown animal would be taken in the trap; for example, the great squirrel of Canada, remarkable for its beautiful tufted tail and lustrous red skin, attracted hither probably by our almonds and chestnuts; parroquets, in all their diversity of colours, would sometimes be caught; blue jays, thrushes, yellow loriots, abounded plentifully, to the great prejudice of our cherries, figs, and native grapes. Besides the birds by day, there were other destroyers by night, and we had a great deal of trouble to dislodge a nest of flying squirrels that had taken up their residence in the topmost branches of one of our finest trees.

Our beautiful flowers also attracted numerous guests: these were the humming birds; and it was one of our greatest amusements to watch these little birds flying around us, sparkling like precious stones, and hardly perceptible by the quickness of their motions; it was an amusing spectacle to see these passionate, choleric little fellows attack others twice their size, and drive them away from their nests, and at other times they would tear in pieces the unlucky flower that had deceived their expectations of a rich feast. These little scenes diverted us, and we endeavoured to induce the birds to remain in our neighbourhood by fixing little pots of honey on the branches, and planting the flowers we observed they preferred. Our cares were recompensed; several couples suspended their little nests, lined with soft cotton, to the branches of the vanilla which wound around the columns of the gallery, or on the vines of the pepper, the perfume of which is very enticing to the humming-bird.

The making of sugar was an object of our special attention, and we gradually improved our manufacture; not that I can say we crystallized it as done in the refineries, but we obtained a very satisfactory result. We had saved from the wreck of the ship many articles intended for a sugar factory; among others, three metal cylinders with which to press the sugar-cane, three great kettles to boil the liquid in, and ladles and skimmers in abundance. The press was fixed under a perpendicular screw, working in connection with the cylinders, the whole turned by a lever passed horizontally through the screw, and moved by one of our beasts of burden.

Whale Island had not been neglected: we embellished it with trees and shrubs; but it was here that we always performed our less cleanly avocations, such as the preparation of fish, the melting of fat, the tannery, and the candle-making. The materials for these works were kept under an overhanging rock, which protected them from the sun and storm.

Our cares were divided between these different establishments, without neglecting those that were more distant from us, and which we called our colonies. At Waldegg we transformed the swamp into a superb rice-field, which repaid our labour by plentiful harvests; we also planted cinnamon, which yielded us an ample return. Prospect Hill also had its share of attention; for each year, when the capers were ripe, we made an excursion thither, and gathered a large quantity, which my wife preserved in spice and vinegar; and when the tea-plant began to put forth its leaves, again we set out, and gathering enough for our use; we took it home to my wife, who, with her youngest son, occupied herself in rolling, drying, and preparing it for use.

We made, from time to time, an excursion to the defile of the savanna, so that we might see whether any elephants, or other hurtful beasts, had penetrated into our plantations. Fritz then made an excursion in his cajack up the river of the savanna, and brought back to us a rich cargo of ginseng, cacao, and bananas.

As Fritz had discovered in the woods near the defile traces of birds which, from their noise and form, he judged to be heath-cocks, we resolved one day to have a grand hunt, after the manner of the Cape colonists. For this purpose we constructed a large quadrangle of the enormous bamboo-canes I have spoken of, piled upon one another until the edifice was ten feet long and six high, and exactly resembled an enormous bird-cage; the top was covered with a lattice of canes, and the door formed of the same. To induce the birds to enter, we dug a deep ditch, which led, like a mine under a city wall, into the centre of the edifice; we covered this ditch with sticks and earth, and placed in the exterior entrance, all along the passage, different sorts of grain. We then retired, and the birds precipitated themselves on the food; the more they ate the deeper they buried themselves in the ditch, until at last, when they arrived at the end, they found themselves captured, and in vain they beat their heads against the trellis-work. We entered and soon took them all prisoners.

The family of Turk and Flora had each year been increased by a certain number of young dogs, which, notwithstanding the brilliant qualities they displayed, we were obliged to throw into the water, as to have allowed them to live would have been our own destruction. To this rule there was but one exception, and on the earnest entreaty of Jack, I permitted the canine family to retain one new member, which we called Coco, “because,” said Jack, “the vowel o is the most sonorous, and will sound so fine in the forests.”

The female buffalo and the cow had each year produced us a scion from their race; but we had only raised one heifer and a second bull. We had called the cow Blanche, on account of her pale yellow colour, and the bull Thunder, as his voice was so powerful. We also possessed two more asses, which we named Arrow and Alert on account of the swiftness of their course.

Our pigs were as wild as ever. The old sow had been dead many years; but she had bequeathed to her posterity a spirit of savage independence that all our exertions could not modify. Our other beasts had multiplied in the same proportion, so that we could often kill one without any fear of impoverishing ourselves. Such was the state of the colony ten years after our arrival on the coast: our resources had multiplied as our industry increased; abundance reigned around us; we were as familiar with our part of the island as a farmer with his farm. It was a perfect paradise. It would have been an Eden, but there was one great void—oh! if we could but have looked upon men, our brothers!

For ten years had we watched both by sea and land for some traces of man’s existence, but all in vain; and yet we hoped on, hoped ever, and still gathered up all our treasures of cotton, and spices, and ostrich-plumes, etc., in earnest hope that some day we might again see the blessed face of man.

My sons were no longer children. Fritz had become a strong and vigorous man; although not tall, yet his limbs had been developed by exercise: he was twenty-four years of age.

Ernest was twenty-three, and although of a good constitution, he was not so strong as his brother; his reflective mind had ripened; reason now aided his studious disposition; he had conquered his habit of idleness, and was, in a word, a well-informed young man, of a sound judgment, and unquestionably the light of the family.

Jack had but little changed: he was as headlong at twenty as at ten; but he excelled in corporeal exercises.

Francis was eighteen: he was stout and tall; his character, without any predominant trait, was estimable. He was reflective, without being as deep as Ernest; agile and skilful, but without surpassing Jack or Fritz. In general my sons were good and honest men, with sound principles, and a deep sense of religion.

My dear Elizabeth had not grown very old. As for me, my hair had become whitened by age, or, to speak more justly, there were but a few scattering locks left; the heat of the climate and excessive fatigue had taken them all away, although I still felt young and vigorous.

There was one bitter, sad thought that always haunted my mind; and turning my eyes to heaven, I would often say, “My God, who didst save us from shipwreck, and hast surrounded us with so many blessings, still watch over us, I pray thee, and do not let those perish in solitude whom thy hand has saved.”