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 a 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 quite 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 entirely 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 then sat round the table, and regaled ourselves plentifully with the delicious and odoriferous treat of the honey. Having finished our meal, my wife put by the remainder; and I proposed to my sons to go back to the tree, in order 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 passing a board at the aperture, and burning a few handfuls of tobacco on it, the smell and smoke of which drove them back from their old abode, whenever they attempted to return to it. At length they desisted from approaching it, and became gradually reconciled to their new residence, where their queen no doubt had settled herself. I took this opportunity to relate to my children all I had read in the interesting work by Mr. Huber of Geneva of the queen-bee, this beloved and respected mother of her subjects, who are all her children, and who take care of and guard her, work for her, nourish the rising swarms, make the cells in which they are to lodge, prepare others of a different structure, as well as nutriment for the young queens destined to lead forth the fresh colonies: and I entered into all those details which celebrated observers, and particularly the one we have just mentioned, have described so interestingly. These accounts highly entertained my youthful auditory, who almost regretted having molested by their depredation the repose of a fine peaceable kingdom that had flourished so long without interruption in the huge trunk. As to me, it so well suited my intended staircase, that I readily adopted the prevailing moral amongst conquerors, who dispense with scruples when the seizing a country is convenient to their policy, and I resolved to take full possession next day. In the meantime I advised all to 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. That we might not be ourselves injured by so much fatigue, we went and threw ourselves on our beds, and in our clothes, to take a short doze before the hour of retreat; we were lulled to sleep with their buzzing, which had quite ceased when we awoke at the coming on of night; they had remained quiet in the gourd or suspended in clusters from some branches: without concerning ourselves about them, we went promptly 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; and now we promised ourselves an abundant supply of an agreeable article for desserts. 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 was surprised to see the numbers that had occupied the trunk of the tree find room in the gourd; but on looking round me, I perceived a part of them collected in a cluster upon a branch, and I thence concluded a young queen was amongst them.
On perceiving this, 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.
We soon after these operations proceeded to examine the inside of the tree. I sounded it with a pole from the opening I had made towards the top; 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; nothing therefore was more practicable than to fix winding stairs in this capacious hollow, that should reach from top to bottom. 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 that very day. The undertaking appeared at first beyond our powers; but intelligence, patience, time, and a firm resolution vanquished all obstacles. We were not disposed to relax in any of these requisites; and I was pleased to find opportunities to keep my sons in continual action, and their minds and bodies were all the better for exertion. They grew tall, strong, and were too much engaged to regret, in ignoble leisure, any of their past enjoyments in Europe.
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; by means of which we should at once be guarded against every attack on that side. 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 ten or twelve feet high 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. The window I had opened at the top to take out the honey gave light enough. I made a second aperture below, and a third above it, 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 bedchamber. Here I made another door directly into it; and I then found I could add nothing further to my design. If my staircase was not in strict conformity to the rules of architecture, it at least answered the purpose it was built for, that of conducting us with safety and shelter to our nocturnal residence. 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 little tree, the other along the side of the large one, 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 when the whole was complete, it was so pretty, solid, and convenient, that we were never tired of going up and coming down it; and I fear I must add, for the sake of truth, with no small admiration of our united talents. I must, however, candidly own, that we succeeded in this arduous attempt by mere dint of efforts, patience, industry, and time; for it occupied us for several weeks together with no intermission. It more than once reminded me of the wise system of education of the philosopher of Geneva, J. J. Rousseau; and particularly where he recommends that boys of all classes in society should learn a trade, and especially that of a carpenter. How happy should I have been in our circumstances to have known this trade myself, and to have taught it to my eldest son! I cannot too earnestly exhort all fathers to put their sons in early possession of a resource which, though it may not become of the first necessity, has, at all events, the advantage of making a young man stronger, and more dexterous; of filling up many of the dangerous idle hours of ardent youth; and of being able, in maturer age, if it be unnecessary to work ourselves, at least to overlook the workmen we employ. I am not an enthusiast for the system of Rousseau, though I admire his style and genius; yet if humanity were indebted to him for no more than this sagacious counsel, and the felicity conferred by his maxims on early childhood, it would still suffice to make us love and consider him as a benefactor.
But our new acquisition of a handsome staircase did not exclusively occupy the whole of our time; as in our solitude we had nothing to consider but our own pleasure or convenience, and our daily wants were not subject to the occurrence of other social duties, we saw no occasion for tormenting ourselves with a greater degree of labour in every day than was wholesome for our bodily health. We had no harsh surveyor, no inquisitive examiners; no troublesome neighbours nor counsellors. If we occasionally regretted not being members of a large society under just laws and agreements established between societies of men, we more frequently complimented ourselves on not being subjected to this restraint and the inconveniences that arise from it. If we happened now and then to feel the want of some of the high-wrought pleasures of social existence, we were speedily solaced by reflecting that we did not stand in need of money; that we had no uneasy care about the acquisition of it; that we excited neither envy, pity, nor censure; while the imperfection of our achievements, and the trouble they cost us, were richly compensated by the freedom and cheerfulness with which they were executed, ever without altercation, and with united hearts and souls.
I will briefly narrate the few remarkable occurrences that took place during the construction of our staircase.
A few days after the commencement of our staircase, 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: but lest the domestic animals should follow the example of the ass, and run away from us, I tied a bell to the neck of each. We had found a sufficient number of bells in the vessel, which had been shipped for trading with the savages; it being one of the articles they most value. We could now immediately trace a deserter by the sound, and bring it back to the fold.
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 latter, 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 the rider, and to wear a girth, having made one out of the old buffalo’s hide. I formed a sort of saddle with sailcloth, 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, without fear or repugnance, large bags full of potatoes, salt, and other articles, such as the ass had patiently borne to be loaded with. 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 the child off. Jack now showed some impatience to mount the animal in his turn. Some restraint was requisite:—I passed the appropriate piece of wood through the buffalo’s nose, and tied strong packthread at each end of the stick, bringing them together over the neck of the animal; and I then put this new-fashioned bridle into the hands of the young rider, directing him how to use it. For a time the lad kept his saddle, notwithstanding the repeated jumps of the horned steed; 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 rode 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. By continued attentions it at length became extremely docile: it was not in the least apt to start; and I really felt satisfaction in being thus enabled to make my sons expert riders, so that if they should ever have horses, they might get on the most restive and fiery without any fear:—none could be compared to our young buffalo; and the ass which I had intended to employ in the same way was far surpassed by this new member of our family. Fritz and Jack, with my instructions, amused themselves in training the animal as horses are exercised in a riding-house; and by means of the little stick through the nose, they were able to do what they pleased with him.
In the midst of all this Fritz did not neglect his eagle; he daily shot some small birds which he gave it to eat, placing them sometimes betwixt the buffalo’s horns, sometimes on the back of one of the hens, or of a flamingo, or on a shelf, or at the end of a stick, in order to teach it to pounce like a falcon upon other birds. He taught it to perch on his wrist whenever he called or whistled to it; but some time elapsed before he could trust it to soar without securing its return by a long string, apprehending its bold and wild nature would prompt it to take a distant and farewell flight from us.
Our whole company, including even the inert Ernest, was infected with the passion of becoming instructors. Ernest tried his talents in this way with his monkey; who, it must be confessed, seldom failed to furnish him with work. It was no poor specimen of the ludicrous to see the lad; he whose movements were habitually slow and studied, now constrained to skip, and jump, and play a thousand antics with his pupil during training hours, and all the time deeply interested in carrying forward the lesson the grotesque mimic was condemned to learn, of carrying small loads, climbing the coconut trees, and to fetch and bring the nuts. He and Jack made a little hamper of rushes, very light: they put three straps to it, two of which passed under the fore, and one between the hind legs of the animal, and were then fastened to a belt in front, to keep the hamper steady on the back of the mischievous urchin. This apparatus was at first intolerable to poor Knips: he gnashed his teeth, rolled on the ground, jumping like a mad creature, and did everything to get rid of it; but all in vain, for education was the standing order, and he soon found he must submit. The hamper was left on day and night; its sole food was what was thrown into it; and in a short time pug was so much accustomed to the burden, that he began to spit and growl whenever we attempted to take it off, and everything given to the creature to hold was instantly thrown into it. Knips became at length a useful member of our society; but he would only obey Ernest, whom he at once loved and feared, thus affording a proof of at least one of the great ends of all instruction. Jack was less successful with his little jackal, which he had named Hunter, hoping that its qualities would justify the name. He made continual attempts to induce the animal to go after game; but for the first six months he advanced no further in the lesson than teaching him to bring what was thrown to it: and when it was dead game, Hunter was sure to devour it on the way, and to bring home the skin alone: but it was nevertheless so pretty and tractable a creature, that I entreated the boy not to relinquish a task that would prove so beneficial to us; and he persevered with considerable zeal.
These different occupations filled up several hours of the day; when, after working at our stairs, we assembled in the evening round our never-failing constant friend, the good mother, to rest ourselves: and forming a little circle, every individual of which was affectionate and cheerful, it was her turn to give us some agreeable and less fatiguing occupation in the domestic concerns of Falcon Stream: such, for example, as endeavouring to improve our candle-manufactory, by blending the berry and the beeswax, and employing the reed-moulds invented by Jack: but having found some difficulty in taking out the candles when cold, I adopted the plan of dividing the moulds, cleaning the inside, and rubbing it over with a little butter, to prevent the wax from adhering to it; then to rejoin both halves with a band that could be loosened at pleasure, to facilitate the extraction of the tapers. The wicks gave us most trouble, as we had no cotton. We tried with moderate success the fibrous threads of the karatta, and those of the algava or flame-wood; but each had the inconvenience of becoming a sort of coal or cinder. The production which gave us the most satisfaction was the pith of a species of elder; but it did not, however, lessen our desire to discover the only appropriate ingredient, the cotton-tree. I likewise contrived a method of rendering our candles even and shining, by rolling them between two boards; they now were only distinguishable from those of Europe by a greenish hue. On my observing to my sons that wax was bleached like linen, by spreading it on cloths, and exposing it to the dew and sun, they wished to try the process; but as our green tapers burned remarkably well, bleaching the wax would have been a useless luxury and loss of time, which I could turn to more account in 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 commenced by making some clay moulds, which they covered with layers of gum, agreeably to the instructions I had given them.
In the meanwhile I compactly 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; and 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 spread on a sufficiency with my brush. After which 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.
I hung them up directly, that they might dry without shrinking. They fitted uncommonly well; and my four lads were so highly pleased with their appearance, that they skipped about with joy in requesting me to make each of them a pair. I refrained from any promise, because I wished to ascertain their strength previously, and to compare them with boots made out of mere buffalo-leather. Of these I at once began a pair for Fritz, with a piece of the slaughtered buffalo’s skin. They gave far more trouble than those manufactured with the caoutchouc, which I used to cover the seams and render them less pervious to water. The work turned out very imperfect, and so inferior to my incomparable boots, that Fritz wore them reluctantly; and the more so, as his brothers shouted with laughter at the difficulty he had to run in them. My boys had succeeded tolerably well with their new ware, though still imperfect; but as a first essay performed by tyro artists, I was satisfied with their productions.
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 pails, 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, and such as we frequently could not get when we drew our water from the bed of the river, which was often blended with the leaves and earth fallen into it, or rendered turbid by our waterfowls. The only inconvenience was, that the water flowing in this open state through narrow channels in a slender stream, was heated, and not refreshing when it reached us. I resolved to obviate this inconvenience at my future leisure, by employing, instead of the uncovered conduits, large bamboo-canes fixed deep enough in the ground to keep the water cool. In waiting the execution of this design, we felt pleasure in the new acquisition; and Fritz, who had suggested the notion, received his tribute of praise from all.