CHAPTER III
The Start -- The rising Tide -- Elms and different Plants -- The Jacamar -- Aspect of the Forest -- Gigantic Eucalypti -- The Reason they are called "Fever Trees" -- Troops of Monkeys -- A Waterfall -- The Night Encampment.
The next day, the 30th of October, all was ready for the proposedexploring expedition, which recent events had rendered so necessary.In fact, things had so come about that the settlers in Lincoln Islandno longer needed help for themselves, but were even able to carry itto others.
It was therefore agreed that they should ascend the Mercy as far asthe river was navigable. A great part of the distance would thus betraversed without fatigue, and the explorers could transport theirprovisions and arms to an advanced point in the west of the island.
It was necessary to think not only of the things which they shouldtake with them, but also of those which they might have by chance tobring back to Granite House. If there had been a wreck on the coast,as was supposed, there would be many things cast up, which would belawfully their prizes. In the event of this, the cart would have beenof more use than the light canoe, but it was heavy and clumsy to drag,and therefore more difficult to use; this led Pencroft to express hisregret that the chest had not contained, besides "his half-pound oftobacco," a pair of strong New Jersey horses, which would have beenvery useful to the colony!
The provisions, which Neb had already packed up, consisted of a storeof meat and of several gallons of beer, that is to say, enough tosustain them for three days, the time which Harding assigned for theexpedition. They hoped besides to supply themselves on the road, andNeb took care not to forget the portable stove.
The only tools the settlers took were the two woodmen's axes, whichthey could use to cut a path through the thick forests, as also theinstruments, the telescope and pocket-compass.
For weapons they selected the two flint-lock guns, which were likelyto be more useful to them than the percussion fowling-pieces, thefirst only requiring flints which could be easily replaced, and thelatter needing fulminating caps, a frequent use of which would soonexhaust their limited stock. However, they took also one of thecarbines and some cartridges. As to the powder, of which there wasabout fifty pounds in the barrel, a small supply of it had to betaken, but the engineer hoped to manufacture an explosive substancewhich would allow them to husband it. To the firearms were added thefive cutlasses well sheathed in leather, and, thus supplied, thesettlers could venture into the vast forest with some chance ofsuccess.
It is useless to add that Pencroft, Herbert, and Neb, thus armed, wereat the summit of their happiness, although Cyrus Harding made thempromise not to fire a shot unless it was necessary.
At six in the morning the canoe put off from the shore; all hadembarked, including Top, and they proceeded to the mouth of the Mercy.
The tide had begun to come up half an hour before. For several hours,therefore, there would be a current, which it was well to profit by,for later the ebb would make it difficult to ascend the river. Thetide was already strong, for in three days the moon would be full, andit was enough to keep the boat in the centre of the current, where itfloated swiftly along between the high banks without its beingnecessary to increase its speed by the aid of the oars. In a fewminutes the explorers arrived at the angle formed by the Mercy, andexactly at the place where, seven months before, Pencroft had made hisfirst raft of wood.
After this sudden angle the river widened and flowed under the shadeof great evergreen firs.
The aspect of the banks was magnificent. Cyrus Harding and hiscompanions could not but admire the lovely effects so easily producedby nature with water and trees. As they advanced the forest elementdiminished. On the right bank of the river grew magnificent specimensof the ulmaceae tribe, the precious elm, so valuable to builders, andwhich withstands well the action of water. Then there were numerousgroups belonging to the same family, amongst others one in particular,the fruit of which produces a very useful oil. Further on, Herbertremarked the lardizabala, a twining shrub which, when bruised inwater, furnishes excellent cordage; and two or three ebony trees of abeautiful black, crossed with capricious veins.
From time to time, in certain places where the landing was easy, thecanoe was stopped, when Gideon Spilett, Herbert, and Pencroft, theirguns in their hands, and preceded by Top, jumped on shore. Withoutexpecting game, some useful plant might be met with, and the youngnaturalist was delighted with discovering a sort of wild spinage,belonging to the order of chenopodiaceae, and numerous specimens ofcruciferae, belonging to the cabbage tribe, which it would certainlybe possible to cultivate by transplanting. There were cresses,horse-radish, turnips, and lastly, little branching hairy stalks,scarcely more than three feet high, which produced brownish grains.
"Do you know what this plant is?" asked Herbert of the sailor.
"Tobacco!" cried Pencroft, who evidently had never seen his favouriteplant except in the bowl of his pipe.
"No, Pencroft," replied Herbert; "this is not tobacco, it is mustard."
"Mustard be hanged!" returned the sailor; "but if by chance you happento come across a tobacco-plant, my boy, pray don't scorn that!"
"We shall find it some day!" said Gideon Spilett.
"Well!" exclaimed Pencroft, "when that day comes, I do not know whatmore will be wanting in our island!"
These different plants, which had been carefully rooted, up, werecarried to the canoe, where Cyrus Harding had remained buried inthought.
The reporter, Herbert, and Pencroft in this manner frequentlydisembarked, sometimes on the right bank, sometimes on the left bankof the Mercy.
The latter was less abrupt, but the former more wooded. The engineerascertained by consulting his pocket compass that the direction of theriver from the first turn was obviously south-west and north-east, andnearly straight for a length of about three miles. But it was to besupposed that this direction changed beyond that point, and that theMercy continued to the north-west, towards the spurs of MountFranklin, among which the river rose.
During one of these excursions, Gideon Spilett managed to get hold oftwo couples of living gallinaceae. They were birds with long, thinbeaks, lengthened necks, short wings, and without any appearance of atail. Herbert rightly gave them the name of tinamons, and it wasresolved that they should be the first tenants of their future poultryyard.
But till then the guns had not spoken, and the first report whichawoke the echoes of the forest of the Far West was provoked by theappearance of a beautiful bird, resembling the kingfisher.
"I recognise him!" cried Pencroft, and it seemed as if his gun wentoff by itself.
"What do you recognise?" asked the reporter.
"The bird which escaped us on our first excursion, and from which wegave the name to that part of the forest."
"A jacamar!" cried Herbert.
It was indeed a jacamar, of which the plumage shines with a metalliclustre. A shot brought it to the ground, and Top carried it to thecanoe. At the same time half a dozen lories were brought down. Thelory is of the size of a pigeon, the plumage dashed with green, partof the wings crimson, and its crest bordered with white. To the youngboy belonged the honour of this shot, and he was proud enough of it.Lories are better food than the jacamar, the flesh of which is rathertough, but it was difficult to persuade Pencroft that he had notkilled the king of eatable birds. It was ten o'clock in the morningwhen the canoe reached a second angle of the Mercy, nearly five milesfrom its mouth. Here a halt was made for breakfast under the shade ofsome splendid trees. The river still measured from sixty to seventyfeet in breadth, and its bed from five to six feet in depth. Theengineer had observed that it was increased by numerous affluents, butthey were unnavigable, being simply little streams. As to the forest,including Jacamar Wood, as well as the forests of the Far West, itextended as far as the eye could reach. In no place, either in thedepths of the forest or under the trees on the banks of the Mercy, wasthe presence of man revealed. The explorers could not discover onesuspic
ious trace. It was evident that the woodman's axe had nevertouched these trees, that the pioneer's knife had never severed thecreepers hanging from one trunk to another in the midst of tangledbrushwood and long grass. If castaways had landed on the island, theycould not have yet quitted the shore and it was not in the woods thatthe survivors of the supposed shipwreck should be sought.
IS IT TOBACCO?]
The engineer therefore manifested some impatience to reach the westerncoast of Lincoln Island, which was at least five miles distantaccording to his estimation.
The voyage was continued, and as the Mercy appeared to flow nottowards the shore, but rather towards Mount Franklin, it was decidedthat they should use the boat as long as there was enough water underits keel to float it. It was both fatigue spared and time gained, forthey would have been obliged to cut a path through the thick wood withtheir axes. But soon the flow completely failed them either the tidewas going down, and it was about the hour, or it could no longer befelt at this distance from the mouth of the Mercy. They had thereforeto make use of the oars, Herbert and Neb each took one, and Pencrofttook the scull. The forest soon became less dense, the trees grewfurther apart and often quite isolated. But the further they were fromeach other the more magnificent they appeared, profiting, as they did,by the free, pure air which circulated around them.
What splendid specimens of the Flora of this latitude! Certainly theirpresence would have been enough for a botanist to name withouthesitation the parallel which traversed Lincoln Island.
"Eucalypti!" cried Herbert.
They were, in fact, those splendid trees, the giants of theextra-tropical zone, the congeners of the Australian and New Zealandeucalyptus, both situated under the same latitude as Lincoln Island.Some rose to a height of two hundred feet. Their trunks at the basemeasured twenty feet in circumference, and their bark was covered by anetwork of furrows containing a red, sweet-smelling gum. Nothing ismore wonderful or more singular than those enormous specimens of theorder of the myrtaceae, with their leaves placed vertically and nothorizontally, so that an edge and not a surface looks upwards, theeffect being that the sun's rays penetrate more freely among thetrees.
THE HALT FOR BREAKFAST]
The ground at the foot of the eucalypti was carpeted with grass, andfrom the bushes escaped flights of little birds, which glittered inthe sunlight like winged rubies.
"These are something like trees!" cried Neb; "but are they good foranything?"
"Pooh!" replied Pencroft. "Of course there are vegetable giants aswell as human giants, and they are no good, except to show themselvesat fairs!"
"I think that you are mistaken, Pencroft," replied Gideon Spilett,"and that the wood of the eucalyptus has begun to be veryadvantageously employed in cabinet-making."
"And I may add," said Herbert, "that the eucalyptus belongs to afamily which comprises many useful members; the guava-tree, from whosefruit guava jelly is made; the clove-tree, which produces the spice;the pomegranate-tree, which bears pomegranates; the EugeaciaCauliflora, the fruit of which is used in making a tolerable wine; theUgui myrtle, which contains an excellent alcoholic liquor; theCaryophyllus myrtle, of which the bark forms an esteemed cinnamon; theEugenia Pimenta, from whence comes Jamaica pepper; the common myrtle,from whose buds and berries spice is sometimes made; the Eucalyptusmanifera, which yields a sweet sort of manna; the Guinea Eucalyptus,the sap of which is transformed into beer by fermentation; in short,all those trees known under the name of gum-trees or iron-bark treesin Australia, belong to this family of the myrtaceae, which containsforty-six genera and thirteen hundred species!"
The lad was allowed to run on, and he delivered his little botanicallecture with great animation. Cyrus Harding listened smiling, andPencroft with an indescribable feeling of pride.
"Very good, Herbert," replied Pencroft, "but I could swear that allthose useful specimens you have just told us about are none of themgiants like these!"
"That is true, Pencroft."
"That supports what I said," returned the sailor, "namely, that thesegiants are good for nothing!"
"There you are wrong, Pencroft," said the engineer; "these giganticeucalypti, which shelter us, are good for something."
"And what is that?"
"To render the countries which they inhabit healthy. Do you know whatthey are called in Australia and New Zealand?"
"No, captain."
"They are called 'fever trees.'"
"Because they give fevers?"
"No, because they prevent them!"
"Good. I must note that," said the reporter.
"Note it then, my dear Spilett; for it appears proved that thepresence of the eucalyptus is enough to neutralise miasmas. Thisnatural antidote has been tried in certain countries in the middle ofEurope and the north of Africa, where the soil was absolutelyunhealthy, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants has beengradually ameliorated. No more intermittent fevers prevail in theregions now covered with forests of the myrtaceae. This fact is nowbeyond doubt, and it is a happy circumstance for us settlers inLincoln Island."
"Ah! what an island! What a blessed island!" cried Pencroft. "I tellyou, it wants nothing--unless it is--"
"That will come, Pencroft, that will be found," replied the engineer;"but now we must continue our voyage and push on as far as the riverwill carry our boat!"
The exploration was therefore continued for another two miles in themidst of country covered with eucalypti, which predominated in thewoods of this portion of the island. The space which they occupiedextended as far as the eye could reach on each side of the Mercy,which wound along between high green banks. The bed was oftenobstructed by long weeds, and even by pointed rocks, which renderedthe navigation very difficult. The action of the oars was prevented,and Pencroft was obliged to push with a pole. They found also that thewater was becoming shallower and shallower, and that the canoe mustsoon stop. The sun was already sinking towards the horizon, and thetrees threw long shadows on the ground. Cyrus Harding, seeing that hecould not hope to reach the western coast of the island in onejourney, resolved to camp at the place where any further navigationwas prevented by want of water. He calculated that they were stillfive or six miles from the coast, and this distance was too great forthem to attempt traversing during the night in the midst of unknownwoods.
The boat was pushed on through the forest, which gradually becamethicker again, and appeared also to have more inhabitants; for if theeyes of the sailor did not deceive him, he thought he saw bands ofmonkeys springing among the trees. Sometimes even two or three ofthese animals stopped at a little distance from the canoe and gazed atthe settlers without manifesting any terror, as if, seeing men for thefirst time, they had not yet learned to fear them. It would have beeneasy to bring down one of these quadrumani with a gunshot, andPencroft was greatly tempted to fire, but Harding opposed so useless amassacre. This was prudent, for the monkeys, or apes rather, appearingto be very powerful and extremely active, it was useless to provoke anunnecessary aggression, and the creatures might, ignorant of the powerof the explorer's firearms, have attacked them. It is true that thesailor considered the monkeys from a purely alimentary point of view,for those animals which are herbivorous make very excellent game; butsince they had an abundant supply of provisions, it was a pity towaste their ammunition.
Towards four o'clock, the navigation of the Mercy became exceedinglydifficult, for its course was obstructed by aquatic plants and rocks.The banks rose higher and higher, and already they were approachingthe spurs of Mount Franklin. The source could not be far off, since itwas fed by the water from the southern slopes of the mountain.
"In a quarter of an hour," said the sailor, "we shall be obliged tostop, captain."
"Very well, we will stop, Pencroft, and we will make our encampmentfor the night."
"At what distance are we from Granite House?" asked Herbert.
"About seven miles," replied the engineer, "taking into calculation,however, the _detours_ of the river, which h
as carried us to thenorth-west."
"Shall, we go on?" asked the reporter.
"Yes, as long as we can," replied Cyrus Harding. "To-morrow, at breakof day, we will leave the canoe, and in two hours I hope we shallcross the distance which separates us from the coast, and then weshall have the whole day in which to explore the shore."
"Go-ahead!" replied Pencroft.
But soon the boat grated on the stony bottom of the river, which wasnow not more than twenty feet in breadth. The trees met like a boweroverhead, and caused a half-darkness. They also heard the noise of awaterfall, which showed that a few hundred feet up the river there wasa natural barrier.
Presently, after a sudden turn of the river, a cascade appearedthrough the trees. The canoe again touched the bottom, and in a fewminutes it was moored to a trunk near the right bank.
It was nearly five o'clock. The last rays of the sun gleamed throughthe thick foliage and glanced on the little waterfall, making thespray sparkle with all the colours of the rainbow. Beyond that, theMercy was lost in the brushwood, where it was fed from some hiddensource. The different streams which flowed into it increased it to aregular river further down, but here it was simply a shallow, limpidbrook.
It was agreed to camp here, as the place was charming. The colonistsdisembarked, and a fire was soon lighted under a clump of trees, amongthe branches of which Cyrus Harding and his companions could, if itwas necessary, take refuge for the night.
Supper was quickly devoured, for they were very hungry, and then therewas only sleeping to think of. But, as roarings of rather a suspiciousnature had been heard during the evening, a good fire was made up forthe night, so as to protect the sleepers with its crackling flames.Neb and Pencroft also watched by turns, and did not spare fuel. Theythought they saw the dark forms of some wild animals prowling roundthe camp among the bushes, but the night passed without incident, andthe next day, the 31st of October, at five o'clock in the morning, allwere on foot, ready for a start.