Our repast being ended, I observed to my wife, that I did not think it would be possible for us to sleep that night in the tree, and that we should therefore be obliged to lie on the ground. I however desired her immediately to begin preparing the harness for the animals, that they might go to the seashore and fetch the pieces of wood, and such articles as I might find necessary for enabling us to ascend the tree, if, contrary to my expectation, it should be found practicable. She lost not a moment in beginning her work; while I, in the meantime, set about suspending our hammocks to some of the arched roots of the trees, which I considered would be more convenient for passing the night than on the ground. I next spread a piece of sailcloth large enough to cover them, to preserve us from the dew and from the insects. Having thus made the best provision I could for my family, I hastened with the two eldest boys, to the seashore, to examine what pieces of wood might have been thrown up by the waves, and to choose out such as were most proper for the steps of my ladder. The dry branches of the fig-tree I would not use, for they appeared to me too fragile for the purpose; and I had not observed any other kind of wood growing near, that was sufficiently solid. There were, no doubt, on the sands, numberless pieces, the quality of which was fit for my object; but, unfortunately, there was none that would not require considerable labour to be adapted to my purpose; and thus my undertaking would have experienced a considerable delay, if Ernest had not been lucky enough to discover a number of bamboo canes in a sort of bog, where they lay half covered with sand and mud. I took them out, and, with the boys’ assistance, completely cleared them from the dirt; and stripping off their leaves to examine them, I found to my great joy that they were precisely what I wanted. I then instantly began to cut them, with my hatchet, in pieces of four or five feet long; the boys bound them together in faggots proportioned to their strength for carrying them, and we prepared to return with them to our place of abode. I next secured some of the straight and most slender of the stalks, to make some arrows with, of which I knew I should stand in need. At some distance from the place where we stood, I perceived a sort of thicket, in which I hoped I might find some young twigs, which I thought might also be useful to me; I determined, however, first to examine them. We proceeded to the spot; but apprehending it might be the retreat of some dangerous reptile, or animal, we held our guns in readiness. Ponto, who had accompanied us, went before. We had hardly reached the thicket, when we observed him make several jumps, and throw himself furiously into the middle of the bushes; when instantly a troop of large-sized flamingos sprang out, and with a loud rustling noise mounted into the air. Fritz, always too ready with his gun, instantly fired, when two of the birds fell down among the bushes: one of them was quite dead, but the other was only slightly wounded in the wing: he soon got upon his feet, and giving himself a shake, and finding that he could not fly, he began to make use of his long legs, and to run so fast towards the water, that we were afraid he would escape us. Fritz, in the joy of his heart, ran to pick up the flamingo he had killed; he plunged up to his knees in the water, and with great difficulty was able to get out again; while I, warned by his example, proceeded more cautiously in my pursuit of the wounded bird. Ponto came to my assistance, for without him I should have lost all trace of the animal; but he ran on before, caught hold of the flamingo, and held him fast till I reached the spot, and took him into my protection. All this was effected with considerable trouble; for the bird made a stout resistance, flapping its wings with violence for some time. However, at last I succeeded in securing him.
Fritz was not long in extricating himself from the swamp; he now appeared holding the dead flamingo by the feet: but I had more trouble in the care of mine, as I had a great desire to preserve him alive. I had tied his feet and his wings with my handkerchief; notwithstanding which, he still continued to flutter about to a distressing degree, and tried to make his escape. I held the flamingo under my left arm, and my gun in my right hand. I made the best jumps I was able, to get to the boys, but at the risk of sinking every moment into the mud, which was extremely deep, and from which it would have been difficult to have released me. Attracted by the love of sporting, I had made my way through these dangerous places, scarcely observing their existence; but now, on my return, I shuddered on perceiving the danger to which I had exposed myself.
The joy of the boys was excessive, when they saw that my flamingo was alive. If we can but cure his wound and contrive to feed him, what a happiness it will be! said they. Do you think that he will like to be with the other fowls?
I know, answered I, that he is a bird that may be easily tamed; and we will make our experiment upon him: but he will not thank you for such food as we give our fowls; he will make his humble petition to you for some small fish, a few worms, or insects.
Ernest.—Our river will furnish him with all these; Jack and Francis can catch as many as he will want; and very soon, with such long legs as he has, he may learn the way to the river and find them for himself.
Father.—I hope you will take great care of him, for I have a great desire to preserve him.
Fritz.—How delightful it will be, if we can catch some other sorts of wild birds, and have a yard to keep them in! But look, father, he is web-footed like aquatic birds, while his legs are long like the stork: is not this rare and extraordinary?
Father.—Not at all: many other birds, as well as the flamingo, possess the double faculty of running and of swimming.
Ernest.—But, father, are all flamingos like this, of such a beautiful red colour, and the wings so exquisitely tinted with purple? I think I have seen the flamingo in my Natural History, and the colours were not like these: so perhaps this is not a flamingo at last?
Father.—I believe it is a flamingo, Ernest, and that this difference in the plumage denotes the age of the bird: when very young they are gray, at a more advanced age they are white; and it is only when they are full grown, that they are adorned with this beautifully tinted plumage.
Ernest.—This dead one, then, is an old fellow, and I am afraid by his colours that he will make but a tough dish: shall we not take him home to mamma?
Father.—Yes, certainly. I leave to you the care of carrying him, in the best manner you can: in the meantime, I shall repeat my visit to the canes, for I have not done with them yet. I accordingly selected, now, some of the oldest of the stalks, and cut from them their hard-pointed ends, which I had well considered would serve for the tips of my arrows, for which they are also used by the savages of the Antilles. Lastly, I looked for two of the longest canes, which I cut, for the purpose of measuring the height of our giant tree, about which I felt so deep an interest. When I told my sons the use I intended to make of the two longest canes, they indulged themselves in a hearty laugh at me, and maintained, that though I should lay ten such canes up the trunk of the tree, the last would not reach even the lowest branch. I requested they would oblige me by having a little patience; and I reminded them, that it was not long ago that they defied their mother to catch the fowls, because they themselves had not known how to set about it.
When I had done all I wanted, I began to think of returning. Ernest took the charge of all the canes; Fritz carried the dead flamingo, and I took care of the living one. We had not gone far, when Fritz, addressing himself to Ponto, said: Oho, lazy bones! so you think you are to be excused from any part of the burden; have the goodness to carry my flamingo on your back, with the same politeness as your companion Turk observed, towards my little monkey.
As he said this, he tied the dead bird upon his back, without the least resistance from the patient animal.
So then, said I, Mr. Fritz intends to return quite at his ease, and without any part of our load, while his old father and his young brother carry each a heavy portion!
Your reproach is very just, father, said the excellent lad; give me, I entreat you, your live bird, and I will take the greatest care of him; only see if he does not already give me a kind look! and as for his long formidable beak, I am not the least afraid of it; he does not look as if he would bite me. That is the more generous on his part, replied I, for it was you who wounded him: but it is a known fact, that animals are often of a less revengeful nature than man, and you will see that this bird will attach itself to you very strongly: saying this, I put the flamingo carefully into his hands.
We were now returned to the spot where we had left the three bundles of bamboo-canes; and as my sons were sufficiently loaded, I took charge of them myself. Now you see, said I to Fritz, that in this instance kindness is its own reward; if you had not undertaken the care of the flamingo, you would have had to carry all these bundles, which are a much heavier load.
We were at length arrived once more at our giant trees, and were received with a thousand expressions of interest and kindness. Why, what have you there, Ernest, that is so beautiful a red?—and, Fritz, what is that in your handkerchief? All were delighted at the sight of our new conquests. My wife, with her accustomed disposition to anxiety on our account, immediately asked where we should get food enough for all the animals we brought home. You should consider, said I, that some of them feed us, instead of being fed; and the one we have now brought you, need not give you much uneasiness, if, as I hope, he proves able to find food for himself without our interference. I now began to examine his wound, and found that only one wing was injured by the ball, but that the other had also been slightly wounded by the dog’s laying hold of him. I anointed them both with an ointment I composed of a mixture of butter and wine for the purpose, and which seemed immediately to ease the pain; I next tied him by one of his legs, with a long string, to a stake I had driven into the ground, quite near to the stream, that he might go in and wash himself when he pleased.
In the meantime, my little railers had tied the two longest canes together, and were endeavouring to measure the tree with them; but when they found that they reached no further than the top of the arch formed by the roots, they all burst into immoderate fits of laughter, assuring me, that if I wished to measure the tree, I must think of some other means. I however sobered them a little, by recalling to Fritz’s memory some lessons in geometry and land-surveying, which he had received in Europe, and that by means of these useful sciences, the measure of the highest mountains, and their distance from each other, may be ascertained by the application of triangles and supposed lines. I instantly proceeded to this kind of operation, fixing my canes in the ground, and making use of some string, which Fritz guided according to my directions. I will not fatigue the reader with a minute account of the geometrical process I adopted, as a substitute for the proper instruments; it is sufficient to let him know, that the means I used, answered my purpose, and that I found that the height of our tree was forty feet: this particular of its height I was obliged scrupulously to ascertain, before I could determine the length of my ladder. I now set Fritz and Ernest to work, to measure our stock of thick ropes, of which I wanted no less than eighty feet for the two sides of the ladder; the two youngest I employed in collecting all the small string we had used for measuring, and carrying it to their mother. For my own part, I sat down on the grass, and began to make some arrows with a piece of the bamboo, and the short sharp points of the canes I had taken such pains to secure. As the arrows were hollow, I filled them with moist sand, to give them a little weight; and lastly, I tipped them with a bit of feather from the flamingo, to make them fly straight. Scarcely had I finished my work, than the boys came jumping round me, uttering a thousand demonstrations of joy: A bow, a bow, and some real arrows! cried they, addressing each other, and then running to me.—Tell us, father, continued they, what you are going to do with them; do let me shoot one;—and me; and me too, cried one and all as fast as they could speak.
Father.—Have patience, boys; I say, have patience. This once I must claim the preference for myself, in order to make trial of my work, which I undertook rather for use than for amusement; so now I will try one of them. Have you, my dear, any strong thread? said I to my wife; I want some immediately. We shall see, said she, what my enchanted bag, which has never yet refused its aid, can do for you. She then threw open its mouth. Come, said she, my pretty bag, give me what I ask you for; my husband wants some thread, and it must be very strong. … See now, did I not promise you should have your wish? … See, here is a large ball of the very thread you want.
Ernest.—But I do not see much magic, however, mother, in taking out of a bag, exactly what we had before put into it.
Father.—If we are to discuss the matter seriously, Ernest, I cannot but allow that your observation is a just one; but in a moment of dreadful apprehension, such as we experienced on leaving the vessel, to think of a variety of little things that might be useful to one or all of us, was an act that we may truly call an enchantment; and it is a conduct, of which, only the best of wives and the best of mothers could be capable: it is, then, something like a truth, that your mother is a good fairy, who constantly provides for all our wants: but you young giddy things think little of the benefit you thus enjoy.
Just at this moment, Fritz joined us, having finished measuring the string; he brought me the welcome tidings that our stock, in all, was about five hundred fathoms, which I knew to be more than sufficient for my ladder. I now tied the end of the ball of strong thread to an arrow, and fixing it to the bow, I shot it off in such a direction, as to make the arrow pass under one of the largest branches of the tree, and fall again to the ground from the upper side of the same branch. By this method I lodged my thread across the main branch, while I had the command of the end and the ball below. It was now easy to tie a piece of rope to the end of the thread, and draw it upwards, till the knot should reach the same branch. We were thus enabled again to measure the height it was from the ground, and it again proved to be forty-feet, as had appeared by my former mode of measuring. Having now made quite sure of being able to raise my ladder by means of the string already suspended, we all set to work with increased zeal and confidence. The first thing I did was to cut a length of about a hundred feet from my parcel of ropes, an inch thick; this I divided into two equal parts, which I stretched along on the ground in two parallel lines, at the distance of a foot from each other. I then directed Fritz to cut portions of sugar cane, each two feet in length. Ernest handed them to me, one after another; and as I received them, I inserted them into my cords at the distance of twelve inches respectively; fixing them with knots in the cord, while Jack, by my order, drove into each a long nail at the two extremities, to hinder them from slipping out again. Thus in a very short time I had formed a ladder of forty rounds in length, and in point of execution firm and compact, and which we all beheld with a sort of joyful astonishment. I now proceeded to fasten it firmly to one end of the rope, which hung from the tree, and pulled it by the other, till one end of our ladder reached the branch, and seemed to rest so well upon it, that the joyous exclamations of the boys and my wife resounded from all sides. All the boys wished to be the first to ascend upon it; but I decided that it should be Jack, he being the nimblest and of the lightest figure among them. Accordingly, I and his brothers held the end of the rope with all our strength, while our young adventurer tripped up the ladder with as much ease as if he were a cat, and presently took his post upon the branch; but I observed that he had not strength enough to tie the rope firmly to the tree. Fritz now interfered, assuring me that he could ascend the ladder as safely as his brother: but, as he was much heavier, I was not altogether without apprehension. I gave him instructions how to step, in such a way as to divide his weight, by occupying four rounds of the ladder at the same time, with his feet and hands; I made him take with him some large nails and a hammer, to nail the ladder firmly to the branch. He set out courageously upon the undertaking, and was almost instantly side by side with Jack, forty-feet above our heads, and both saluting us with cries of exultation. Fritz immediately set to work to fasten the ladder, by passing the rope round and round the branch; and this he performed with so much skill and intelligence, that I felt sufficient reliance to determine me to ascend myself, and well conclude the business he had begun. But before I ascended, I tied a large pulley to the end of the rope, and carried it with me. When I was at the top, I fastened the pulley to a branch which was within my reach, that by this means I might be able the next day to draw up the planks and timbers I might want for building my aerial castle. I executed all this by the light of the moon, and felt the satisfaction of having done a good day’s work. I now gently descended my rope ladder, and joined my wife and children.
As I found an inconvenience in being three of us together on the branch, I had directed the boys to descend first. My astonishment, therefore, on reaching the ground, and finding that neither Fritz nor Jack had made their appearance, it is easier to conceive than to describe; their mother, as she assured me, having seen nothing of them since they ascended the ladder. While I was endeavouring to conjecture where they could be, we suddenly heard the sound of voices which seemed to come from the clouds, and which chanted an evening hymn. I soon recognised the trick our young rogues had played me; who seeing me busily employed in the tree, instead of descending as I had desired them, had climbed upwards from branch to branch till they reached to the very top. My heart was now lightened of my apprehensions for their safety, and I called out to them as loudly as I could, to take great care in coming down. It was almost night, and the light of the moon scarcely penetrated the extreme thickness of the foliage. They presently descended, and joined their anxious relations without any accident. I now directed them to assemble all our animals, and to get together what dry wood we should want for making fires, which I looked to as our defence against the attacks of wild beasts. I explained to them all my reasons for this, informing them that in Africa, a country remarkable for its prodigious numbers of ferocious animals, the natives secure themselves from their nocturnal visits, by lighting large fires, which all these creatures are known to dread and avoid.
When these preparations were finished, my wife presented me with the day’s work she had performed; it was some traces and a breast-leather each for the cow and the ass. I promised her, as a reward for her zeal and exertion, that we should all be completely settled in the tree the following day. And now we began to think of our supper, in which she and Ernest and little Francis had been busily and officiously engaged. Ernest had made two wooden forks, and driven them into the ground to support a spit, upon which was a large piece of the porcupine, which he kept turning at the fire. Another piece of the animal was boiling in the pot for soup; and both together exhaled an odour which gave us an excellent appetite.
All our animals had now come round us, one after the other. My wife threw some grain to the fowls, to accustom them to assemble in a particular spot; and when they had eaten it, we had the pleasure of seeing our pigeons take their flight to the top of the giant tree, and the cocks and hens perching and settling themselves, and cackling all the time, upon the rounds of the ladder. The quadrupeds we tied to the arched roots of the tree, quite near to our hammocks, where they quietly lay down on the grass to ruminate in tranquillity. Our beautiful flamingo was not forgotten, Fritz having fed him with some crumbs of biscuit soaked in milk, which he ate very heartily; and afterwards putting his head under his right wing, and raising his left foot, he abandoned himself with confidence to sleep.
At last we had notice that our supper was served. We had laid together in different heaps, a quantity of dried branches and pieces of wood, in readiness to light, when my wife summoned us to our meal, which we had waited for with impatience, and now greedily devoured. My wife, still keeping her resolution of not tasting the porcupine, contented herself with the more sober fare of bread and cheese. The children brought us some figs for the dessert, which they had picked up under the trees, and of which we all partook with pleasure. And now the gaping of one of the boys, and the outstretched arms of another, gave us notice, that it was time for our young labourers to retire to rest. We performed our evening devotions. I set fire to several of the heaps, and then threw myself contentedly upon my hammock. My young ones were already cased in theirs, and we were soon greeted with their murmurs at being obliged to lie so close to each other, that they could not move their limbs. Ah, gentlemen, cried I, you must try to be contented; no sailor is ever better accommodated than you are now, and you must not expect beds to drop from the clouds on your behalf! I then directed them how to put themselves in a more convenient posture, and to swing their hammock gently to and fro. And see, added I, if sleep will not visit you as soon in a hammock, as on a bed of down. They profited by my advice, and all, except myself, were soon asleep.