*CHAPTER VII.*
_*A Cocoanut Calendar; Food Supply*_*.*
The notches in the cocoanut calendar grew in number as the days passed,busy days of hard, incessant labor, and four months of my exile elapsedere the house was finished to my satisfaction and a substantial stockadeerected around it. The walls of my house were made of the wild canesclosely woven like basket-work. It had been done very carefully, and,when completed, I had a perfect shelter, both from the sun and the wind.The roof was made of the long grass, alternate with layers of bamboos;and by using the larger bamboos in the centre of the roof, when bysuccessive layers it reached the proper thickness, I had a roof whichsloped steeply from the centre to each edge, which, carefully coveredwith an outside layer of the long grass dressed from the top downward,would perfectly shed the water during the rainy season. The thicknessof the roof rendered it impervious to wet, and, as I soon discovered,almost a non-conductor of heat.
I left no windows in the house, as I thought there would be sufficientventilation through the interstices of the cane-walls, but I constructeda door three feet wide and five feet high, by lashing bamboos togetherin the form of a gridiron, and then weaving in cane as I had done inconstructing the walls. For hinges I made use of vines twistedtogether.
The stockade surrounded the house at a distance of about six feet fromeither side, and it cost me several weeks of steady work. I had firstto cut a great number of good-sized bamboos, which, with only my knife,was very laborious work. I had frequently to sharpen the knife on apiece of soft, porous rock which I found near the brook.
Each bamboo was cut off to a length of ten feet, and sharpened at thesmall, or upper end. These I set into the ground at intervals of onefoot, to a depth of two feet. Then, at a distance of one foot from thetop all around the enclosure, I lashed long bamboos, using the toughvine which I found in abundance near the edge of the bush, winding itaround each upright bamboo, and around the horizontal poles. Betweenthe horizontal pole and the ground, I wove a close basketwork of thevine. It was harder work weaving in this vine, as it was larger than thecanes; but it was very tough, and a wall composed of it closely wovenwould prove a very effective defense.
So I kept busily at work, day after day, cutting the vines, trimming offthe leaves, dragging them to the house and weaving them in around thebamboo uprights, until I finally had a wall about me elastic but capableof sustaining a great strain, the sharpened ends of the upright bamboosforming an effectual safeguard against the walls being scaled from theoutside.
After the woven-work of vines was thoroughly seasoned, which did nottake long, I cut round holes six inches in diameter, four on each side,about five feet from the ground, in order that I might command a view inall directions without leaving the enclosure.
In the side facing the sea, I made a door, constructed in a mannersimilar to that in the house; but, for the stockade door, I devised anarrangement for securely barring it on the inside, by using two largebamboos each two feet longer than the door was wide, held in place byrings of the supple vine which I twisted about the two door-posts.
These rings were made by first bending several inches of one end of thevine in the form of a circle, and then winding the rest of the vinearound this ring. Through these the ends of the bars passing across thedoor were placed, which, if anything, made the opening, when closed andfastened inside, stronger than any other portion of the structure.
During all this time I had lived solely upon cocoanuts and oranges,varied with a few shellfish, somewhat resembling periwinkles, onlylarger, that I found along the beach. These I ate raw, and found themrather palatable but somewhat tough. However, as I continued in goodhealth and strength, I preferred to complete my house and stockadebefore making a systematic attempt to provide other food.
Nothing now remained to be done in connection with my dwelling, but tocarry into execution an idea which I had evolved while at work, that oftransplanting some creepers from the edge of the forest and trainingthem along the stockade, so that, as I calculated, in a short time, inthis tropical land of rapid growth, they would completely cover thestockade, and render my retreat more safe from observation, should mysolitude be invaded.
During all this time I had suspended work on Sundays, but I had occupiedthe time in making short trips inland, and along the coast in eitherdirection; but finding the forest very dense as I left the shore, Icould not have gone more than four or five miles in any direction. Mytrips along the shore were without results, so far as enlightenmentconcerning the extent of the island was concerned, for every bend of thecoast revealed only headlands and more coast-line stretching awaybeyond.
The results of my wandering in the bush had troubled me not a little,for I had found no new fruits and vegetables, and had discovered noanimals, or birds that I could bring myself to think edible. There wereonly parrots and smaller birds, some of brilliant plumage; and even hadI chosen to eat them I had no means of securing the game. I wassomewhat surprised not to find more humming birds. I saw only one kind,a large, black species, having two tiny golden feathers each about sixinches long at the sides of its tail. Of snakes, I had seen none, norland turtles.
The sea-shore, too, seemed to be as devoid of food supplies, for I hadseen no sea turtle, though I knew that they should be plentiful in thislatitude.
But I refrained from attempting a systematic exploration, feeling itwould be wise to first provide as secure a retreat as possible for mypermanent headquarters.