The Swiss Family Robinson

We descended the hill and made for a clump of palm trees, which we saw at a little distance. To reach this, we had to pass through a dense thicket of reeds, no pleasant or easy task; for, besides the difficulty of forcing our way through, I feared at every step that we might tread on some venomous snake. Sending Turk in advance, I cut one of the reeds, thinking it would be a more useful weapon against a reptile than my gun. I had carried it but a little way, when I noticed a thick juice exuding from one end. I tasted it, and to my delight, found it sweet and pleasant. I at once knew that I was standing amongst sugar-canes. Wishing Fritz to make the same discovery, I advised him to cut a cane for his defence; he did so, and as he beat the ground before him, the reed split, and his hand was covered with the juice. He carefully touched the cane with the tip of his tongue, then, finding the juice sweet, he did so again with less hesitation; and a moment afterwards sprang back to me, exclaiming, ‘Oh, father, sugar-canes, sugar-canes! Taste it. Oh, how delicious, how delightful! Do let us take a lot home to mother,’ he continued, sucking eagerly at the cane!

‘Gently there,’ said I, ‘take breath a moment, moderation in all things, remember. Cut some to take home if you like, only don’t take more than you can conveniently carry.’

In spite of my warning, my son cut a dozen or more of the largest canes, and stripping them of their leaves, carried them under his arm. We then pushed through the cane-brake, and reached the clump of palms for which we had been making; as we entered it a troop of monkeys, who had been disporting themselves on the ground, sprang up, chattering and grimacing, and before we could clearly distinguish them, were at the very top of the trees.

Fritz was so provoked by their impertinent gestures that he raised his gun, and would have shot one of the poor beasts.

‘Stay,’ cried I, ‘never take the life of any animal needlessly. A live monkey up in that tree is of more use to us than a dozen dead ones at our feet, as I will show you.’

Saying this, I gathered a handful of small stones, and threw them up towards the apes. The stones did not go near them, but influenced by their instinctive mania for imitation, they instantly seized all the coconuts within their reach, and sent a perfect hail of them down upon us.

Fritz was delighted with my stratagem, and rushing forward picked up some of the finest of the nuts. We drank the milk they contained, drawing it through the holes which I pierced, and then, splitting the nuts open with the hatchet, ate the cream which lined their shells. After this delicious meal, we thoroughly despised the lobster we had been carrying, and threw it to Turk, who ate it gratefully: but far from being satisfied, the poor beast began to gnaw the ends of the sugar-canes, and to beg for coconut. I slung a couple of the nuts over my shoulder, fastening them together by their stalks, and Fritz having resumed his burden, we began our homeward march.

I soon discovered that Fritz found the weight of his canes considerably more than he expected: he shifted them from shoulder to shoulder, then for a while carried them under his arm, and finally stopped short with a sigh. ‘I had no idea,’ he said, ‘that a few reeds would be so heavy.’

‘Never mind, my boy,’ I said, ‘Patience and courage! Do you not remember the story of Aesop and his bread-basket, how heavy he found it when he started, and how light at the end of his journey? Let us each take a fresh staff, and then fasten the bundle crosswise with your gun.’

We did so, and once more stepped forward. Fritz presently noticed that I from time to time sucked the end of my cane.

‘Oh, come,’ said he, ‘that’s a capital plan of yours, father, I’ll do that too.’

So saying, he began to suck most vigorously, but not a drop of the juice could he extract. ‘How is this?’ he asked. ‘How do you get the juice out, father?’

‘Think a little,’ I replied, ‘you are quite as capable as I am of finding out the way, even if you do not know the real reason of your failure.’

‘Oh, of course,’ said he, ‘it is like trying to suck marrow from a marrow bone, without making a hole at the other end.’

‘Quite right,’ I said, ‘you form a vacuum in your mouth and the end of your tube, and expect the air to force down the liquid from the other end which it cannot possibly enter.’

Fritz was speedily perfect in the accomplishment of sucking sugar-cane, discovering by experience the necessity for a fresh cut at each joint or knot in the cane, through which the juice could not flow; he talked of the pleasure of initiating his brothers in the art, and of how Ernest would enjoy the coconut milk, with which he had filled his flask.

‘My dear boy,’ said I, ‘you need not have added that to your load; the chances are it is vinegar by the time we get home. In the heat of the sun, it will ferment soon after being drawn from the nut.’

‘Vinegar! Oh, that would be a horrid bore! I must look directly, and see how it is getting on,’ cried Fritz, hastily swinging the flask from his shoulder, and tugging out the cork. With a loud ‘pop’ the contents came forth, foaming like champagne.

‘There now!’ said I, laughing as he tasted this new luxury. ‘You will have to exercise moderation again, friend Fritz! I daresay it is delicious, but it will go to your head, if you venture deep into your flask.’

‘My dear father, you cannot think how good it is! Do take some. Vinegar, indeed! This is like excellent wine.’

We were both invigorated by this unexpected draught, and went on so merrily after it, that the distance to the place where we had left our gourd dishes seemed less than we expected. We found them quite dry, and very light and easy to carry.

Just as we had passed through the grove in which we breakfasted, Turk suddenly darted away from us, and sprang furiously among a troop of monkeys, which were gambolling playfully on the turf at a little distance from the trees. They were taken by surprise completely, and the dog, now really ravenous from hunger, had seized, and was fiercely tearing one to pieces before we could approach the spot.

His luckless victim was the mother of a tiny little monkey, which being on her back when the dog flew at her, had hindered her flight; the little creature attempted to hide among the grass, and in trembling fear watched the tragic fate of its mother. On perceiving Turk’s blood-thirsty design, Fritz had eagerly rushed to the rescue, flinging away all he was carrying, and losing his hat in his haste. All to no purpose as far as the poor mother ape was concerned, and a laughable scene ensued, for no sooner did the young monkey catch sight of him than at one bound it was on his shoulders, and, holding fast by his thick curly hair, it firmly kept its seat in spite of all he could do to dislodge it. He screamed and plunged about as he endeavoured to shake or pull the creature off, but all in vain, it only clung the closer to his neck, making the most absurd grimaces.

I laughed so much at this ridiculous scene, that I could scarcely assist my terrified boy out of his awkward predicament.

At last, by coaxing the monkey, offering it a bit of biscuit, and gradually disentangling its small sinewy paws from the curls it grasped so tightly, I managed to relieve poor Fritz, who then looked with interest at the baby ape, no bigger than a kitten, as it lay in my arms.

‘What a jolly little fellow it is!’ exclaimed he. ‘Do let me try to rear it, father. I daresay coconut milk would do until we can bring the cow and the goats from the wreck. If he lives he might be useful to us. I believe monkeys instinctively know what fruits are wholesome and what are poisonous.’

‘Well,’ said I, ‘let the little orphan be yours. You bravely and kindly exerted yourself to save the mother’s life, now you must train her child carefully, for unless you do so its natural instinct will prove mischievous instead of useful to us.’

Turk was meanwhile devouring with great satisfaction the little animal’s unfortunate mother. I could not grudge it him, and continued hunger might have made him dangerous to ourselves. We did not think it necessary to wait until he had dined, so we prepared to resume our march.

The tiny ape seated itself in the coolest way imaginable on Fritz’s shoulder, I helped to carry his canes, and we were on some distance before Turk overtook us, looking uncommonly well pleased, and licking his chops as though recalling the memory of his feast.

He took no notice of the monkey, but it was very uneasy at sight of him, and scrambled down into Fritz’s arms, which was so inconvenient to him that he devised a plan to relieve himself of his burden. Calling Turk, and seriously enjoining obedience, he seated the monkey on his back, securing it there with a cord, and then putting a second string round the dog’s neck that he might lead him, he put a loop of the knot into the comical rider’s hand, saying gravely, ‘Having slain the parent, Mr Turk, you will please to carry the son.’

At first this arrangement mightily displeased them both, but by and by they yielded to it quietly; the monkey especially amused us by riding along with the air of a person perfectly at his ease.

‘We look just like a couple of mountebanks on their way to a fair with animals to exhibit,’ said I. ‘What an outcry the children will make when we appear!’

My son inquired to what species of the monkey tribe I thought his protégé belonged, which led to a good deal of talk on the subject, and conversation beguiling the way, we found ourselves ere long on the rocky margin of the stream and close to the rest of our party.

Juno was the first to be aware of our approach, and gave notice of it by loud barking, to which Turk replied with such hearty goodwill, that his little rider, terrified at the noise his steed was making, slipped from under the cord and fled to his refuge on Fritz’s shoulder, where he regained his composure and settled himself comfortably.

Turk, who by this time knew where he was, finding himself free, dashed forward to rejoin his friend, and announce our coming.

One after another our dear ones came running to the opposite bank, testifying in various ways their delight at our return, and hastening up on their side of the river, as we on ours, to the ford at which we had crossed in the morning. We were quickly on the other side, and, full of joy and affection, our happy party was once more united.

The boys suddenly perceiving the little animal which was clinging close to their brother, in alarm at the tumult of voices, shouted in ecstasy.

‘A monkey! A monkey! Oh, how splendid! Where did Fritz find him? What may we give him to eat? Oh, what a bundle of sticks! Look at those curious great nuts father has got!’

We could neither check this confused torrent of questions, nor get in a word in answer to them.

At length when the excitement subsided a little, I was able to say a few words with a chance of being listened to. ‘I am truly thankful to see you all safe and well, and, thank God, our expedition has been very satisfactory, except that we have entirely failed to discover any trace of our shipmates.’

‘If it be the will of God,’ said my wife, ‘to leave us alone on this solitary place, let us be content, and rejoice that we are all together in safety.’

‘Now we want to hear all your adventures, and let us relieve you of your burdens,’ added she, taking my game-bag.

Jack shouldered my gun, Ernest took the coconuts, and little Franz carried the gourds, Fritz distributed the sugar-canes amongst his brothers, and handing Ernest his gun replaced the monkey on Turk’s back. Ernest soon found the burden with which Fritz had laden him too heavy to his taste. His mother perceiving this, offered to relieve him of part of the load. He gave up willingly the coconuts, but no sooner had he done so than his elder brother exclaimed, ‘Hullo, Ernest, you surely do not know what you are parting with; did you really intend to hand over those good coconuts without so much as tasting them?’

‘What ho?! Are they really coconuts?’ cried Ernest. ‘Do let me take them again, mother, do let me look at them.’ ‘No, thank you,’ replied my wife with a smile. ‘I have no wish to see you again overburdened.’ ‘Oh but I have only to throw away these sticks, which are of no use, and then I can easily carry them.’

‘Worse and worse,’ said Fritz, ‘I have a particular regard for those heavy useless sticks. Did you ever hear of sugar-canes?’

The words were scarcely out of his mouth when Ernest began to suck vigorously at the end of the cane with no better result, however, than Fritz had obtained as we were on the march.

‘Here,’ said Fritz, ‘let me show you the trick of it,’ and he speedily set all the youngsters to work extracting the luscious juice.

My wife, as a prudent housekeeper, was no less delighted than the children with this discovery; the sight of the dishes also pleased her greatly, for she longed to see us eat once more like civilized beings. We went into the kitchen and there found preparations for a truly sumptuous meal. Two forked sticks were planted in the ground on either side of the fire, on these rested a rod from which hung several tempting-looking fish, opposite them hung a goose from a similar contrivance, slowly roasting while the gravy dropped into a large shell placed beneath it. In the centre sat the great pot from which issued the smell of a most delicious soup. To crown this splendid array, stood an open hogshead full of Dutch cheeses. All this was very pleasant to two hungry travellers, but I was about to beg my wife to spare the poultry until our stock should have increased, when she, perceiving my thought, quickly relieved my anxiety. ‘This is not one of our geese,’ she said, ‘but a wild bird Ernest killed.’

‘Yes,’ said Ernest, ‘it is a penguin, I think, it let me get quite close, so that I knocked it on the head with a stick. Here are its head and feet which I preserved to show you; the bill is, you see, narrow and curved downwards, and the feet are webbed. It had funny little bits of useless wings, and its eyes looked so solemnly and sedately at me, that I was almost ashamed to kill it. Do you not think it must have been a penguin?’

‘I have little doubt on the matter, my boy,’ and I was about to make a few remarks on the habits of this bird, when my wife interrupted me and begged us to come to dinner and continue our natural history conversation at some future time. We then sat down before the appetizing meal prepared for us, our gourds coming for the first time into use, and having done it full justice, produced the coconuts by way of dessert. ‘Here is better food for your little friend,’ said I to Fritz, who had been vainly endeavouring to persuade the monkey to taste dainty morsels of the food we had been eating. ‘The poor little animal has been accustomed to nothing but its mother’s milk; fetch me a saw, one of you.’