CHAPTER VI
The other side of the mountain--Disappointment--Inventory of articles brought from the ship--Division of the stock of bread--Appearance of the interior of the island--A discovery--A ravine and waterfalls--A sleepless night--Further discoveries--My illness--A Marquesan landscape.
My curiosity had been not a little raised with regard to the descriptionof country we should meet on the other side of the mountains; and I hadsupposed, with Toby, that immediately on gaining the heights we should beenabled to view the large bays of Happar and Typee reposing at our feet onone side, in the same way that Nukuheva lay spread out below on the other.But here we were disappointed. Instead of finding the mountain we hadascended sweeping down in the opposite direction into broad and capaciousvalleys, the land appeared to retain its general elevation, only brokeninto a series of ridges and inter-vales, which as far as the eye couldreach stretched away from us, with their precipitous sides covered withthe brightest verdure, and waving here and there with the foliage ofclumps of woodland; among which, however, we perceived none of those treesupon whose fruit we had relied with such certainty.
This was a most unlooked-for discovery, and one that promised to defeatour plans altogether, for we could not think of descending the mountain onthe Nukuheva side in quest of food. Should we for this purpose be inducedto retrace our steps, we should run no small chance of encountering thenatives, who in that case, if they did nothing worse to us, would becertain to convey us back to the ship for the sake of the reward in calicoand trinkets, which we had no doubt our skipper would hold out to them asan inducement to our capture.
What was to be done? The _Dolly_ would not sail perhaps for ten days, andhow were we to sustain life during this period? I bitterly repented ourimprovidence in not providing ourselves, as we easily might have done,with a supply of biscuit. With a rueful visage I now bethought me of thescanty handful of bread I had stuffed into the bosom of my frock, and feltsomewhat desirous to ascertain what part of it had weathered the ratherrough usage it had experienced in ascending the mountain. I accordinglyproposed to Toby that we should enter into a joint examination of thevarious articles we had brought from the ship. With this intent we seatedourselves upon the grass; and a little curious to see with what kind ofjudgment my companion had filled his frock--which I remarked seemed aboutas well lined as my own--I requested him to commence operations byspreading out its contents.
Thrusting his hand, then, into the bosom of his capacious receptacle, hefirst brought to light about a pound of tobacco, whose component partsstill adhered together, the whole outside being covered with softparticles of sea-bread. Wet and dripping, it had the appearance of havingbeen just recovered from the bottom of the sea. But I paid slightattention to a substance of so little value to us in our presentsituation, as soon as I perceived the indications it gave of Toby'sforesight in laying in a supply of food for the expedition.
I eagerly inquired what quantity he had brought with him, when rummagingonce more beneath his garment, he produced a small handful of something sosoft, pulpy, and discoloured, that for a few moments he was as muchpuzzled as myself to tell by what possible instrumentality such avillanous compound had become engendered in his bosom. I can only describeit as a hash of soaked bread and bits of tobacco, brought to a doughyconsistency by the united agency of perspiration and rain. But repulsiveas it might otherwise have been, I now regarded it as an invaluabletreasure, and proceeded with great care to transfer this paste-like massto a large leaf which I had plucked from a bush beside me. Toby informedme that in the morning he had placed two whole biscuits in his bosom, witha view of munching them, should he feel so inclined, during our flight.These were now reduced to the equivocal substance which I had just placedon the leaf.
Another dive into the frock brought to view some four or five yards ofcalico print, whose tasteful pattern was rather disfigured by the yellowstains of the tobacco with which it had been brought in contact. Indrawing this calico slowly from his bosom inch by inch, Toby reminded meof a juggler performing the feat of the endless ribbon. The next cast wasa small one, being a sailor's little "ditty bag," containing needles,thread, and other sewing utensils; then came a razor-case, followed by twoor three separate plugs of negro-head, which were fished up from thebottom of the now empty receptacle. These various matters being inspected,I produced a few things which I had myself brought.
As might have been anticipated from the state of my companion's ediblesupplies, I found my own in a deplorable condition, and diminished to aquantity that would not have formed half a dozen mouthfuls for a hungryman who was partial enough to tobacco not to mind swallowing it. A fewmorsels of bread, with a fathom or two of white cotton cloth, and severalpounds of choice pigtail, composed the extent of my possessions.
Our joint stock of miscellaneous articles were now made up into a compactbundle, which it was agreed we should carry alternately. But the sorryremains of the biscuit were not to be disposed of so summarily: theprecarious circumstances in which we were placed made us regard them assomething on which very probably depended the fate of our adventure. Aftera brief discussion, in which we both of us expressed our resolution of notdescending into the bay until the ship's departure, I suggested to mycompanion that little of it as there was, we should divide the bread intosix equal portions, each of which should be a day's allowance for both ofus. This proposition he assented to; so I took the silk kerchief from myneck, and cutting it with my knife into half a dozen equal pieces,proceeded to make an exact division.
At first, Toby, with a degree of fastidiousness that seemed to meill-timed, was for picking out the minute particles of tobacco with whichthe spongy mass was mixed; but against this proceeding I protested, as bysuch an operation we must have greatly diminished its quantity.
When the division was accomplished, we found that a day's allowance forthe two was not a great deal more than what a table-spoon might hold. Eachseparate portion we immediately rolled up in the bit of silk prepared forit, and joining them all together into a small package, I committed them,with solemn injunctions of fidelity, to the custody of Toby. For theremainder of that day we resolved to fast, as we had been fortified by abreakfast in the morning; and now starting again to our feet, we lookedabout us for a shelter during the night, which, from the appearance of theheavens, promised to be a dark and tempestuous one.
There was no place near us which would in any way answer our purpose; soturning our backs upon Nukuheva, we commenced exploring the unknownregions which lay upon the other side of the mountain.
In this direction, as far as our vision extended, not a sign of life, noranything that denoted even the transient residence of man could be seen.The whole landscape seemed one unbroken solitude, the interior of theisland having apparently been untenanted since the morning of thecreation; and as we advanced through this wilderness, our voices soundedstrangely in our ears, as though human accents had never before disturbedthe fearful silence of the place, interrupted only by the low murmuringsof distant waterfalls.
Our disappointment, however, in not finding the various fruits with whichwe had intended to regale ourselves during our stay in these wilds, was agood deal lessened by the consideration that from this very circumstancewe should be much less exposed to a casual meeting with the savage tribesabout us, who we knew always dwelt beneath the shadows of those treeswhich supplied them with food.
We wandered along, casting eager glances into every bush we passed, untiljust as we had succeeded in mounting one of the many ridges thatintersected the ground, I saw in the grass before me something like anindistinctly traced footpath, which appeared to lead along the top of theridge, and to descend with it into a deep ravine about half a mile inadvance of us.
Robinson Crusoe could not have been more startled at the footprint in thesand than we were at this unwelcome discovery. My first impulse was tomake as rapid a retreat as possible, and bend our steps in som
e otherdirection; but our curiosity to see whither this path might lead, promptedus to pursue it. So on we went, the track becoming more and more visiblethe farther we proceeded, until it conducted us to the verge of theravine, where it abruptly terminated.
"And so," said Toby, peering down into the chasm, "every one that travelsthis path takes a jump here, eh?"
"Not so," said I, "for I think they might manage to descend without it;what say you,--shall we attempt the feat?"
"And what, in the name of caves and coal-holes, do you expect to find atthe bottom of that gulf but a broken neck--why, it looks blacker than ourship's hold, and the roar of those waterfalls down there would batterone's brains to pieces."
"Oh, no, Toby," I exclaimed, laughing; "but there's something to be seenhere, that's plain, or there would have been no path, and I am resolved tofind out what it is."
"I will tell you what, my pleasant fellow," rejoined Toby, quickly, "ifyou are going to pry into everything you meet with here that excites yourcuriosity, you will marvellously soon get knocked on the head; to a deadcertainty you will come bang upon a party of these savages in the midst ofyour discovery-makings, and I doubt whether such an event wouldparticularly delight you. Just take my advice for once, and let us 'boutship and steer in some other direction; besides, it's getting late, and weought to be mooring ourselves for the night."
"That is just the thing I have been driving at," replied I; "and I amthinking that this ravine will exactly answer our purpose, for it isroomy, secluded, well watered, and may shelter us from the weather."
"Ay, and from sleep too, and by the same token will give us sore throats,and rheumatism into the bargain," cried Toby, with evident dislike at theidea.
"Oh, very well then, my lad," said I, "since you will not accompany me,here I go, alone. You will see me in the morning"; and advancing to theedge of the cliff upon which we had been standing, I proceeded to lowermyself down by the tangled roots which clustered about all the crevices ofthe rock. As I had anticipated, Toby, in spite of his previousremonstrances, followed my example, and dropping himself with the activityof a squirrel from point to point, he quickly outstripped me, and effecteda landing at the bottom before I had accomplished two-thirds of thedescent.
The sight that now greeted us was one that will ever be vividly impressedupon my mind. Five foaming streams, rushing through as many gorges, andswelled and turbid by the recent rains, united together in one mad plungeof nearly eighty feet, and fell with wild uproar into a deep black poolscooped out of the gloomy-looking rocks that lay piled around, and thencein one collected body dashed down a narrow sloping channel which seemed topenetrate into the very bowels of the earth. Overhead, vast roots of treeshung down from the sides of the ravine, dripping with moisture, andtrembling with the concussions produced by the fall. It was now sunset,and the feeble uncertain light that found its way into these caverns andwoody depths heightened their strange appearance, and reminded us that ina short time we should find ourselves in utter darkness.
As soon as I had satisfied my curiosity by gazing at this scene, I fell towondering how it was that what we had taken for a path should haveconducted us to so singular a place, and began to suspect that after all Imight have been deceived in supposing it to have been a track formed bythe islanders. This was rather an agreeable reflection than otherwise, forit diminished our dread of accidentally meeting with any of them, and Icame to the conclusion that perhaps we could not have selected a moresecure hiding-place than this very spot we had so accidentally hit upon.Toby agreed with me in this view of the matter, and we immediately begangathering together the limbs of trees which lay scattered about, with theview of constructing a temporary hut for the night. This we were obligedto build close to the foot of the cataract for the current of waterextended very nearly to the sides of the gorge. The few moments of lightthat remained we employed in covering our hut with a species ofbroad-bladed grass that grew in every fissure of the ravine. Our hut, ifit deserved to be called one, consisted of six or eight of the straightestbranches we could find laid obliquely against the steep wall of rock, withtheir lowered ends within a foot of the stream. Into the space thuscovered over we managed to crawl, and dispose our wearied bodies as bestwe could.
Shall I ever forget that horrid night! As for poor Toby, I could scarcelyget a word out of him. It would have been some consolation to have heardhis voice, but he lay shivering the live-long night like a man afflictedwith the palsy, with his knees drawn up to his head, while his back wassupported against the dripping side of the rock. During this wretchednight there seemed nothing wanting to complete the perfect misery of ourcondition. The rain descended in such torrents that our poor shelterproved a mere mockery. In vain did I try to elude the incessant streamsthat poured upon me; by protecting one part I only exposed another, andthe water was continually finding some new opening through which to drenchus.
I have had many a ducking in the course of my life, and in general caredlittle about it: but the accumulated horrors of that night, the death-likecoldness of the place, the appalling darkness and the dismal sense of ourforlorn condition, almost unmanned me.
It will not be doubted that the next morning we were early risers, and assoon as I could catch the faintest glimpse of anything like daylight Ishook my companion by the arm, and told him it was sunrise. Poor Tobylifted up his head, and after a moment's pause said, in a husky voice,"Then, shipmate, my toplights have gone out, for it appears darker nowwith my eyes open than it did when they were shut."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed I; "you are not awake yet."
"Awake!" roared Toby, in a rage; "awake! You mean to insinuate I've beenasleep, do you? It is an insult to a man to suppose he could sleep in sucha place as this."
By the time I had apologized to my friend for having misconstrued hissilence, it had become somewhat more light, and we crawled out of ourlair. The rain had ceased, but everything around us was dripping withmoisture. We stripped off our saturated garments, and wrung them as dry aswe could. We contrived to make the blood circulate in our benumbed limbsby rubbing them vigorously with our hands; and after performing ourablutions in the stream, and putting on our still wet clothes, we began tothink it advisable to break our long fast, it being now twenty-four hourssince we had tasted food.
Accordingly, our day's ration was brought out, and seating ourselves on adetached fragment of rock, we proceeded to discuss it. First we divided itinto equal portions, and carefully rolling one of them up for ourevening's repast, divided the remainder again as equally as possible, andthen drew lots for the first choice. I could have placed the morsel thatfell to my share upon the tip of my finger; but notwithstanding this, Itook care that it should be full ten minutes before I had swallowed thelast crumb. What a true saying it is that "appetite furnishes the bestsauce"! There was a flavour and a relish to this small particle of foodthat, under other circumstances, it would have been impossible for themost delicate viands to have imparted. A copious draught of the pure waterwhich flowed at our feet served to complete the meal, and after it we rosesensibly refreshed, and prepared for whatever might befall us.
We now carefully examined the chasm in which we had passed the night. Wecrossed the stream, and gaining the farther side of the pool I havementioned, discovered proofs that the spot must have been visited by someone but a short time previous to our arrival. Further observationconvinced us that it had been regularly frequented, and, as we afterwardsconjectured from particular indications, for the purpose of obtaining acertain root, from which the natives obtained a kind of ointment.
These discoveries immediately determined us to abandon a place which hadpresented no inducement for us to remain, except the promise of security;and as we looked about us for the means of ascending again into the upperregions, we at last found a practicable part of the rock, andhalf-an-hour's toil carried us to the summit of the same cliff from whichthe preceding evening we had descended.
I now proposed to Toby that instead of rambling about the island
, exposingourselves to discovery at every turn, we should select some place as ourfixed abode for as long a period as our food should hold out, buildourselves a comfortable hut, and be as prudent and circumspect aspossible. To all this my companion assented, and we at once set aboutcarrying the plan into execution.
With this view, after exploring without success a little glen near us, wecrossed several of the ridges of which I have before spoken; and aboutnoon found ourselves ascending a long and gradually rising slope, butstill without having discovered any place adapted to our purpose. Low andheavy clouds betokened an approaching storm, and we hurried on to gain acovert in a clump of thick bushes, which appeared to terminate the longascent. We threw ourselves under the lee of these bushes, and pulling upthe long grass that grew around, covered ourselves completely with it, andawaited the shower.
But it did not come as soon as we had expected, and before many minutes mycompanion was fast asleep, and I was rapidly falling into the same stateof happy forgetfulness. Just at this juncture, however, down came the rainwith a violence that put all thoughts of slumber to flight. Although insome measure sheltered, our clothes soon became as wet as ever; this,after all the trouble we had taken to dry them, was provoking enough: butthere was no help for it; and I recommend all adventurous youths whoabandon vessels in romantic islands during the rainy season, to providethemselves with umbrellas.
After an hour or so the shower passed away. My companion slept through itall, or at least appeared so to do; and now that it was over I had not theheart to awaken him. As I lay on my back completely shrouded with verdure,the leafy branches drooping over me, and my limbs buried in grass, I couldnot avoid comparing our situation with that of the interesting babes inthe wood. Poor little sufferers!--no wonder their constitutions broke downunder the hardships to which they were exposed.
During the hour or two spent under the shelter of these bushes, I began tofeel symptoms which I at once attributed to the exposure of the precedingnight. Cold shiverings and a burning fever succeeded one another atintervals, while one of my legs was swelled to such a degree, and painedme so acutely, that I half suspected I had been bitten by some venomousreptile, the congenial inhabitant of the chasm from which we had latelyemerged. I may here remark by the way--what I subsequently learned--that allthe islands of Polynesia enjoy the reputation, in common with theHibernian isle, of being free from the presence of any vipers; thoughwhether Saint Patrick ever visited them, is a question I shall not attemptto decide.
As the feverish sensation increased upon me I tossed about, stillunwilling to disturb my slumbering companion, from whose side I removedtwo or three yards. I chanced to push aside a branch, and by so doingsuddenly disclosed to my view a scene which even now I can recall with allthe vividness of the first impression. Had a glimpse of the gardens ofParadise been revealed to me, I could scarcely have been more ravishedwith the sight.
From the spot where I lay tranfixed with surprise and delight, I lookedstraight down into the bosom of a valley, which swept away in long wavyundulations to the blue waters in the distance. Midway towards the sea,and peering here and there amidst the foliage, might be seen thepalmetto-thatched houses of its inhabitants, glistening in the sun thathad bleached them to a dazzling whiteness. The vale was more than threeleagues in length, and about a mile across at its greatest width.
On either side it appeared hemmed in by steep and green acclivities,which, uniting near the spot where I lay, formed an abrupt andsemi-circular termination of grassy cliffs and precipices hundreds of feetin height, over which flowed numberless small cascades. But the crowningbeauty of the prospect was its universal verdure; and in this indeedconsists, I believe, the peculiar charm of every Polynesian landscape.Everywhere below me, from the base of the precipice upon whose very vergeI had been unconsciously reposing, the surface of the vale presented amass of foliage, spread with such rich profusion that it was impossible todetermine of what description of trees it consisted.
But perhaps there was nothing about the scenery I beheld more impressivethan those silent cascades, whose slender threads of water, after leapingdown the steep cliffs, were lost amidst the rich herbage of the valley.
Over all the landscape there reigned the most hushed repose, which Ialmost feared to break, lest, like the enchanted gardens in the fairytale, a single syllable might dissolve the spell. For a long time,forgetful alike of my own situation, and the vicinity of my stillslumbering companion, I remained gazing around me, hardly able tocomprehend by what means I had thus suddenly been made a spectator of sucha scene.