CHAPTER XXXI.

CHAPTER XXXI.

We went on with our labours but slowly, as many employments diverted us
from the great work. I had discovered that the crystals of salt in our
grotto had a bed of gypsum for their base, from which I hoped to obtain
a great advantage. I was fortunate enough to discover, behind a
projecting rock, a natural passage leading to our store-room, strewed
with fragments of gypsum. I took some of it to the kitchen, and by
repeated burnings calcined it, and reduced it to a fine white powder,
which I put into casks, and carefully preserved for use. My intention
was, to form our partition-walls of square stones, cemented with the
gypsum. I employed my sons daily to collect this, till we had amassed a
large quantity; using some, in the first place, effectually to cover our
herring-barrels. Four barrels were salted and covered in this way; the
rest my wife smoked in a little hut of reeds and branches, in the midst
of which the herrings were laid on sticks, and exposed to the smoke of
a fire of green moss kindled below. This dried them, and gave them the
peculiar flavour so agreeable to many.

We were visited by another shoal of fish a month after that of the
herrings. Jack first discovered them at the mouth of Jackal River, where
they had apparently come to deposit their eggs among the scattered
stones. They were so large, that he was sure they must be whales. I
found them to be pretty large sturgeons, besides salmon, large trout,
and many other fishes. Jack immediately ran for his bow and arrows, and
told me he would kill them all. He fastened the end of a ball of string
to an arrow, with a hook at the end of it; he tied the bladders of the
dog-fish at certain distances to the string; he then placed the ball
safe on the shore, took his bow, fixed the arrow in it, and aiming at
the largest salmon, shot it in the side; the fish tried to escape; I
assisted him to draw the cord; it was no easy task, for he struggled
tremendously; but at length, weakened by loss of blood, we drew him to
land, and despatched him.

The other boys came running up to congratulate the young fisherman on
his invention, and as it was to be feared that the rest, alarmed by this
attack, might take their departure, we determined to abandon everything
for the fishery. Fritz threw his harpoon, and landed, by means of the
reel, some large salmon; Ernest took his rod, and caught trout; and I,
armed like Neptune with an iron trident, succeeded in striking, amongst
the stones, some enormous fish. The greatest difficulty was to land our
booty; Fritz had struck a sturgeon at least eight feet long, which
resisted our united efforts, till my wife brought the buffalo, which we
harnessed to the line, and made ourselves masters of this immense prize.

We had a great deal of labour in opening and cleaning all our fish: some
we dried and salted; some my wife boiled in oil, as they preserve the
tunny. The spawn of the sturgeon, a huge mass, weighing not less than
thirty pounds, I laid aside to prepare as _caviare_, a favourite dish in
Holland and Russia. I carefully cleansed the eggs from the skin and
fibres that were mixed with them, washed them thoroughly in sea-water,
slightly sprinkled them with salt, then put them in a gourd pierced with
small holes to let the water escape, and placed weights on them to press
them completely for twenty-four hours. We then removed the caviare in
solid masses, like cheeses, took it to the smoking-hut to dry, and in a
few days had this large addition to our winter provision.

My next employment was the preparation of the valuable isinglass. I took
the air-bladder and sounds of the fish, cut them in strips, twisted them
in rolls, and dried them in the sun. This is all that is necessary to
prepare this excellent glue. It becomes very hard, and, when wanted for
use, is cut up in small pieces, and dissolved over a slow fire. The glue
was so white and transparent, that I hoped to make window-panes from it
instead of glass.

After this work was finished, we began to plan a boat to replace our tub
raft. I wished to try to make one of bark, as the savage nations do, and
I proposed to make an expedition in search of a tree for our purpose.
All those in our own neighbourhood were too precious to destroy; some
for their fruits, others for their shade. We resolved to search at a
distance for trees fit for our purpose, taking in our road a survey of
our plantations and fields. Our garden at Tent House produced abundantly
continual successions of vegetables in that virgin soil, and in a
climate which recognized no change of season. The peas, beans, lentils,
and lettuces were flourishing, and only required water, and our channels
from the river brought this plentifully to us. We had delicious
cucumbers and melons; the maize was already a foot high, the sugar-canes
were prospering, and the pine-apples on the high ground promised us a
rich treat.

We hoped our distant plantations were going on as well, and all set out
one fine morning to Falcon's Nest, to examine the state of things there.
We found my wife's corn-fields were luxuriant in appearance, and for the
most part ready for cutting. There were barley, wheat, oats, beans,
millet, and lentils. We cut such of these as were ready, sufficient to
give us seeds for another year. The richest crop was the maize, which
suited the soil. But there were a quantity of gatherers more eager to
taste these new productions than we were; these were birds of every
kind, from the bustard to the quail, and from the various establishments
they had formed round, it might be presumed they would not leave
much for us.

After our first shock at the sight of these robbers, we used some
measures to lessen the number of them. Fritz unhooded his eagle, and
pointed out the dispersing bustards. The well-trained bird immediately
soared, and pounced on a superb bustard, and laid it at the feet of its
master. The jackal, too, who was a capital pointer, brought to his
master about a dozen little fat quails, which furnished us with an
excellent repast; to which my wife added a liquor of her own invention,
made of the green maize crushed in water, and mingled with the juice of
the sugar-cane; a most agreeable beverage, white as milk, sweet and
refreshing.

We found the bustard, which the eagle had struck down, but slightly
wounded; we washed his hurts with a balsam made of wine, butter, and
water, and tied him by the leg in the poultry-yard, as a companion to
our tame bustard.

We passed the remainder of the day at Falcon's Nest, putting our summer
abode into order, and thrashing out our grain, to save the precious seed
for another year. The Turkey wheat was laid by in sheaves, till we
should have time to thrash and winnow it; and then I told Fritz that it
would be necessary to put the hand-mill in order, that we had brought
from the wreck. Fritz thought we could build a mill ourselves on the
river; but this bold scheme was, at present, impracticable.

The next day we set out on an excursion in the neighbourhood. My wife
wished to establish colonies of our animals at some distance from
Falcon's Nest, at a convenient spot, where they would be secure, and
might find subsistence. She selected from her poultry-yard twelve young
fowls; I took four young pigs, two couple of sheep, and two goats. These
animals were placed in the cart, in which we had previously placed our
provisions of every kind, and the tools and utensils we might need, not
forgetting the rope ladder and the portable tent; we then harnessed the
buffalo, the cow, and the ass, and departed on our tour.

Fritz rode before on Lightfoot, to reconnoitre the ground, that we
might not plunge into any difficulties; as, this time, we went in a new
direction, exactly in the midst between the rocks and the shore, that we
might get acquainted with the whole of the country that stretched to
Cape Disappointment. We had the usual difficulty, at first, in getting
through the high grass, and the underwood embarrassed our road, till we
were compelled to use the axe frequently. I made some trifling
discoveries that were useful, while engaged in this labour; amongst
others, some roots of trees curved like saddles, and yokes for beasts of
draught. I cut away several of these, and placed them on the cart. When
we had nearly passed the wood, we were struck with the singular
appearance of a little thicket of low bushes, apparently covered with
snow. Francis clapped his hands with joy, and begged to get out of the
cart that he might make some snowballs. Fritz galloped forward, and
returned, bringing me a branch loaded with this beautiful white down,
which, to my great joy, I recognized to be cotton. It was a discovery of
inestimable value to us, and my wife began immediately to enumerate all
the advantages we should derive from it, when I should have constructed
for her the machines for spinning and weaving the cotton. We soon
gathered as much as filled three bags, intending afterwards to collect
the seeds of this marvellous plant, to sow in the neighbourhood of
Tent House.

After crossing the plain of the cotton-trees, we reached the summit of a
hill, from which the eye rested on a terrestrial paradise. Trees of
every sort covered the sides of the hill, and a murmuring stream
crossed the plain, adding to its beauty and fertility. The wood we had
just crossed formed a shelter against the north winds, and the rich
pasture offered food for our cattle. We decided at once that this should
be the site of our farm.

We erected our tent, made a fireplace, and set about cooking our dinner.
While this was going on, Fritz and I sought a convenient spot for our
structure; and we met with a group of beautiful trees, at such a
distance one from another, as to form natural pillars for our dwelling;
we carried all our tools here; but as the day was far advanced, we
delayed commencing our work till next day. We returned to the tent, and
found my wife and her boys picking cotton, with which they made some
very comfortable beds, and we slept peacefully under our canvass roof.

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