CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XXII.

I projected an excursion with my eldest son, to explore the limits of
our country, and satisfy ourselves that it was an island, and not a part
of the continent. We set out, ostensibly, to bring the sledge we had
left the previous evening. I took Turk and the ass with us, and left
Flora with my wife and children, and, with a bag of provisions, we left
Falcon's Nest as soon as breakfast was over.

In crossing a wood of oaks, covered with the sweet, eatable acorn, we
again met with the sow; our service to her in the evening did not seem
to be forgotten, for she appeared tamer, and did not run from us. A
little farther on, we saw some beautiful birds. Fritz shot some, among
which I recognized the large blue Virginian jay, and some different
kinds of parrots. As he was reloading his gun, we heard at a distance a
singular noise, like a muffled drum, mingled with the sound made in
sharpening a saw. It might be savages; and we plunged into a thicket,
and there discovered the cause of the noise in a brilliant green bird,
seated on the withered trunk of a tree. It spread its wings and tail,
and strutted about with strange contortions, to the great delight of its
mates, who seemed lost in admiration of him. At the same time, he made
the sharp cry we heard, and, striking his wing against the tree,
produced the drum-like sound. I knew this to be the _ruffed grouse_, one
of the greatest ornaments of the forests of America. My insatiable
hunter soon put an end to the scene; he fired at the bird, who fell
dead, and his crowd of admirers, with piercing cries, took to flight.

I reprimanded my son for so rashly killing everything we met with
without consideration, and for the mere love of destruction. He seemed
sensible of his error, and, as the thing was done, I thought it as well
to make the best of it, and sent him to pick up his game.

"What a creature!" said he, as he brought it; "how it would have figured
in our poultry-yard, if I had not been in such a hurry."

We went on to our sledge in the Gourd Wood, and, as the morning was not
far advanced, we determined to leave all here, and proceed in our
projected excursion beyond the chain of rocks. But we took the ass with
us to carry our provisions, and any game or other object we should meet
with in the new country we hoped to penetrate. Amongst gigantic trees,
and through grass of a prodigious height, we travelled with some labour,
looking right and left to avoid danger, or to make discoveries. Turk
walked the first, smelling the air; then came the donkey, with his grave
and careless step; and we followed, with our guns in readiness. We met
with plains of potatoes and of manioc, amongst the stalks of which were
sporting tribes of agoutis; but we were not tempted by such game.

We now met with a new kind of bush covered with small white berries
about the size of a pea. On pressing these berries, which adhered to my
fingers, I discovered that this plant was the _Myrica cerifera,_ or
candle-berry myrtle, from which a wax is obtained that may be made into
candles. With great pleasure I gathered a bag of these berries, knowing
how my wife would appreciate this acquisition; for she often lamented
that we were compelled to go to bed with the birds, as soon as the
sun set.

We forgot our fatigue, as we proceeded, in contemplation of the wonders
of nature, flowers of marvellous beauty, butterflies of more dazzling
colours than the flowers, and birds graceful in form, and brilliant in
plumage. Fritz climbed a tree, and succeeded in securing a young green
parrot, which he enveloped in his handkerchief, with the intention of
bringing it up, and teaching it to speak. And now we met with another
wonder: a number of birds who lived in a community, in nests, sheltered
by a common roof, in the formation of which they had probably laboured
jointly. This roof was composed of straw and dry sticks, plastered with
clay, which rendered it equally impenetrable to sun or rain. Pressed as
we were for time, I could not help stopping to admire this feathered
colony. This leading us to speak of natural history, as it relates to
animals who live in societies, we recalled in succession the ingenious
labours of the beavers and the marmots; the not less marvellous
constructions of the bees, the wasps, and the ants; and I mentioned
particularly those immense ant-hills of America, of which the masonry is
finished with such skill and solidity that they are sometimes used for
ovens, to which they bear a resemblance.

We had now reached some trees quite unknown to us. They were from forty
to sixty feet in height, and from the bark, which was cracked in many
places, issued small balls of a thick gum. Fritz got one off with
difficulty, it was so hardened by the sun. He wished to soften it with
his hands, but found that heat only gave it the power of extension, and
that by pulling the two extremities, and then releasing them, it
immediately resumed its first form.

Fritz ran to me, crying out, "I have found some India-rubber!"

"If that be true," said I, "you have made a most valuable discovery."

He thought I was laughing at him, for we had no drawing to rub out here.

I told him this gum might be turned to many useful purposes; among the
rest we might make excellent shoes of it. This interested him. How could
we accomplish this?

"The caoutchouc," said I, "is the milky sap which is obtained from
certain trees of the _Euphorbium_ kind, by incisions made in the bark.
It is collected in vessels, care being taken to agitate them, that the
liquid may not coagulate. In this state they cover little clay bottles
with successive layers of it, till it attains the required thickness. It
is then dried in smoke, which gives it the dark brown colour. Before it
is quite dry, it is ornamented by lines and flowers drawn with the
knife. Finally, they break the clay form, and extract it from the mouth;
and there remains the India-rubber bottle of commerce, soft and
flexible. Now, this is my plan for shoemaking; we will fill a stocking
with sand, cover it with repeated layers of the gum till it is of the
proper thickness; then empty out the sand, and, if I do not deceive
myself, we shall have perfect boots or shoes."

Comfortable in the hope of new boots, we advanced through an
interminable forest of various trees. The monkeys on the cocoa-nut trees
furnished us with pleasant refreshment, and a small store of nuts
besides. Among these trees I saw some lower bushes, whose leaves were
covered with a white dust. I opened the trunk of one of these, which had
been torn up by the wind, and found in the interior a white farinaceous
substance, which, on tasting, I knew to be the sago imported into
Europe. This, as connected with our subsistence, was a most important
affair, and my son and I, with our hatchets, laid open the tree, and
obtained from it twenty-five pounds of the valuable sago.

This occupied us an hour; and, weary and hungry, I thought it prudent
not to push our discoveries farther this day. We therefore returned to
the Gourd Wood, placed all our treasures on the sledge, and took our way
home. We arrived without more adventures, and were warmly greeted, and
our various offerings gratefully welcomed, especially the green parrot.
We talked of the caoutchouc, and new boots, with great delight during
supper; and, afterwards, my wife looked with exceeding content at her
bag of candle-berries, anticipating the time when we should not have to
go to bed, as we did now, as soon as the sun set.

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