Life And Adventures Of Peter Wilkins, Vol. I. (of II.) Read online

  CHAPTER XII.

  An account of the grotto--A room added to it---A view of that building--The author makes a little cart--Also a wet dock for his boat--Goes in quest of provision--A description of divers fruits and plants--He brings home a cart-load of different sorts--Makes experiments on them--Loads his cart with others--A great disappointment--Makes good bread--Never sees the sun--The nature of the light

  Having come to a full resolution of fixing my residence at thegrotto, and making that my capital seat, it is proper to give you somedescription of it.

  This grotto, then, was a full mile from the lake, in the rock whichencompassed the wood. The entrance was scarcely two feet wide, and aboutnine feet high, rising from the height of seven feet upward to a pointin the middle. The cavity was about fifteen feet long within, and aboutfive wide. Being obliged to lie lengthwise in it, full six feet of itwere taken up at the farther end for my lodging only, as nothing couldstand on the side of my bed that would leave me room to come at it. Theremaining nine feet of the cave's length were taken up, first, by myfireplace, which was the deepest side of the doorway, ranging with mybed (which I had set close to the rock on one side), and took up nearthree feet in length; and my furniture and provisions, of one sort orother, so filled up the rest, that I had much ado to creep between theminto my bed.

  In the chest which I had taken for a seat in the boat, as aforesaid,upon breaking it open by the water-side, I found a mattress, someshirts, shoes, stockings, and several other useful things; a small caseof bottles with cordials in them, some instruments of surgery, plastersand salves; all which, together with a large quantity of fish that I hadsalted, I carried to the grotto.

  My habitation being thus already overcharged, and as I could not,however, bear the thoughts of quitting it, or of having any of mygoods exposed to the weather on the outside, I was naturally bent oncontriving how I should increase my accommodations. As I had no prospectof enlarging the grotto itself, I could conceive no other way ofeffecting my desire but by the addition of an outer room. This thoughtpleased me very much, so that the next day I set myself to plan out thebuilding, and trace the foundation of it.

  I told you before there was about the space of a cart-way between thewood and the rock clear; but this breadth, as I was building forlife (so I imagined), not appearing to me spacious enough for my newapartment, I considered how I should extend its bounds into the wood.Hereupon I set myself to observe what trees stood at a proper distancefrom my grotto, that might serve as they stood, with a little managementof hewing and the like, to compose a noble doorway, posts, andsupporters; and I found, that upon cutting down three of the nearesttrees, I should answer my purpose in this respect; and there wereseveral others, about twenty feet from the grotto, and running parallelwith the rock, the situation of which was so happily adapted to myintention, that I could make them become, as I fancied, an out-fence orwall; so I took my axe and cut down my nearest trees, but as I wasgoing to strike, a somewhat different scheme presented itself to myimagination that altered my resolution.

  In conformity with this new plan, I fixed the height of my intendedceiling, and sawed off my nearest trees to that, sloping from the sidesto the middle, to support cross-beams for the roof to rest on, and leftthe trunks standing, by way of pillars, both for the use and ornament ofthe structure. In short, I worked hard every day upon my building for amonth, in which time I had cut all my timber into their proper lengthsfor my outworks and covering, but was at a great stand how to fix myside-posts, having no spade or mattock, and the ground almost as hardas flint, for to be sure it had never been stirred since the creation. Ithen thought I had the worst part of my job to get over; however, I wenton, and having contrived, in most of my upright side-quarters, to takethe tops of trees, and leave on the lower parts their cleft, where theybegan to branch out and divide from the main stem, I set one of themupright against the rock, then laid one end of my long ceiling-piecesupon the cleft of it, and laid the other end upon a tree on the sameside, whose top I had also sawed off with a proper cleft I then went anddid the same on the other side; after this I laid on a proper number ofcross-beams, and tied all very firmly together with the bark of youngtrees stripped off in long thongs, which answered that purpose verywell. Thus I proceeded, crossing, joining, and fastening all together,till the whole roof was so strong and firm that there was no stirringany part of it I then spread it over with small lop wood, on which Iraised a ridge of dried grass and weeds, very thick, and thatched overthe whole with the leaves of a tree very much resembling those of apalm, but much thicker, and not quite so broad; the entire surface, Imight say, was as smooth as a die, and so ordered, by a gentle declivityevery way, as to carry off the wet.

  Having covered in my building, I was next to finish and close thewalls of it; the skeleton of these was composed of sticks, crossing oneanother checker-wise and tied together; to fill up the voids, I woveupon them the longest and most pliable twigs of the underwood I couldfind, leaving only a doorway on one side, between two stems of a treewhich, dividing in the trunk at about two feet from the ground, grewfrom thence, for the rest of its height, as if the branches were acouple of trees a little distance from one another, which made a sort ofstile-way to my room. When this was all done, I tempered up some earthby the lake-side, and mixing it to a due consistence with mud, which Itook from the lake, applied it as a plastering in this manner: I dividedit into pieces, which I rolled up of the size of a foot-ball; theselumps I stuck close by one another on the lattice, pressing them veryhard with my hands, which forced part of them quite through the smalltwigs, and then I smoothed both sides with the back of my saw, to aboutthe thickness of five or six inches; so that by this means I had a wallround my new apartment a foot thick. This plaster-work cost me some timeand a great deal of labour, as I had a full mile to go to the lakefor every load of stuff, and could carry but little at once, it was soheavy; but there was neither water for tempering, nor proper earth tomake it with any nearer. At last, however, I completed my building inevery respect but a door, and for this I was forced to use the lid of mysea chest; which indeed I would have chosen not to apply that way, butI had nothing else that would, do; and there was, however, thisconveniency, that it had hinges ready fixed thereon.

  I now began to enjoy myself in my new habitation, like the absolute andsole lord of the country, for I had neither seen man nor beast since myarrival, save a few animals in the trees like our squirrels, and somewater-rats about the lake; but there were several strange kinds of birdsI had never before seen, both on the lake and in the woods.

  That which now troubled me most was how to get my water nearer to methan the lake, for I had no lesser vessel than the cask, which heldabove twenty gallons, and to bring that up was a fatigue intolerable.My next contrivance, therefore, was this: I told you I had taken mychest-lid to make a door for my ante-chamber, as I now began to call it;so I resolved to apply the body of the chest also to a purpose differentfrom that it originally answered. In order to this, I went to the lakewhere the body of the chest lay, and sawed it through within about threeinches of the bottom. Of the two ends, having rounded them as well as Icould, I made two wheels; and with one of the sides I made two more. Iburnt a hole through the middle of each; then preparing two axle-trees,I fastened them, after putting on the wheels, to the bottom of the chestwith the nails I had drawn out, of it. Having finished this machine, onwhich I bestowed no small labour, I was hugely pleased with it, and onlywished I had a beast, if it were but an ass, to draw it; however, thattask I was satisfied to perform myself, since there was no help for it;so I made a good strong cord out of my fishing-lines, and fixed thatto drag it by. When all was thus in readiness, filling my water-cask,I bound it thereon, and so brought it to the grotto with such ease,comparatively, as quite charmed me. Having succeeded so well in thefirst essay, I no sooner unloaded but down went I again with my cart,or truckle rather, to the lake, and brought from thence on it my otherchest, which I had left entire.<
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  I had now nothing remaining near the lake but my boat, and had half amind to try to bring that up too; but having so frequent occasion forher to get my water in, which I used in greater abundance now than I haddone at first, a great part going to supply my domestic uses, as well asfor drinking, I resolved against that, and sought out for a convenientdock to stow it in as a preservative against wind and weather, which Isoon after effected; for having pitched upon a swampy place, overgrownwith a sort of long flags or reeds, I soon cut a trench from the lake,with a sort of spade or board that I had chopped and sharpened for thatuse.

  Thus having stowed my boat and looked over all my goods and sorted them,and taken a survey of my provisions, I found I must soon be in wantof the last if I did not forthwith procure a supply; for though I hadvictualled so well at setting out, and had been very sparing ever since,yet had it not been for a great quantity of fish I took and salted in mypassage to the gulf, I had been to seek for food much sooner. Hereupon Ithought it highly prudent to look out before I really wanted.

  With this resolution I accoutred myself, as in my first walk, with myinstruments and arms; but instead of travelling the lake-side, I wentalong the wood, and therein found great plenty of divers kinds of fruits though I could scarce persuade myself to taste or try the effectsof them, being so much unlike our own, or any I had seen elsewhere. Iobserved amongst the shrubs abundance of a fruit, or whatever else youmay call it, which grew like a ram's-horn; sharp at the point next thetwig it was fastened to, and circling round and round, one fold uponanother, which gradually increased to the size of my wrist in themiddle, and then as gradually decreased till it terminated in a pointagain at the contrary extreme; all which spiral, if it were fairlyextended in length, might be a yard or an ell long. I surveyed thisstrange vegetable very attentively; it had a rind, or crust, which Icould not break with my hand, but taking my knife and making an openingtherewith in the shell, there issued out a sort of milky liquor in greatquantity, to at least a pint and half, which having tasted, I found assweet as honey, and very pleasant: however, I could not persuade myselfany more than just to taste it. I then found on the large trees severalkinds of fruit, like pears or quinces, but most of them exceeding hardand rough, and quite disagreeable; so I quitted my hopes of them.

  About three miles from my grotto I met with a large space of ground fullof a low plant, growing only with a single woody stalk half a foothigh, and from thence issued a round head, about a foot or ten inchesdiameter, but quite flat, about three-quarters of an inch thick, andjust like a cream-cheese standing upon its edge: these grew so closetogether, that upon the least wind stirring, their heads rattled againsteach other very musically; for though the stalks were so very strongthat they would not easily either bend or break, yet the fanning of thewind upon the broad heads twisting the stalks, so as to let the headsstrike each other, they made a most agreeable sound.

  I stood some time admiring this shrub, and then cutting up one of them,I found it weighed about two pounds; they had a tough green rind orcovering, very smooth, and the inside full of a stringy pulp, quitewhite. In short, I made divers other trials of berries, roots, herbs,and what else I could find, but received little satisfaction from anyof them for fear of bad qualities. I returned back ruminating on whatthings I had seen, resolving to take my cart the next walk, and bringit home loaded with different kinds of them, in order to make my trialsthereof at leisure: but my cart being too flat and wanting sides, Iconsidered it would carry very little, and that what it would otherwisebear, on that account, must tumble and roll off, so I made a fire andturned smith; for with a great deal to do breaking off the wards of alarge key I had, and making it red-hot, I by degrees fashioned it into akind of spindle, and therewith making holes quite round the bottom of mycart, in them I stuck up sticks about two feet high that I had taperedat the end to fit them.

  Having thus qualified my cart for a load, I proceeded with it to thewood, and cutting a small quantity of each species of green, berry,fruit, and flower that I could find, and packing them severally inparcels, I returned at night heavy-laden, and held a council with myselfwhat use they could most properly be applied to.

  I had amongst my goods, as I said, a copper-kettle which held about agallon: this I set over my fire and boiled something by turns of everysort in it, watching all the while, and with a stick stirring andraising up one thing and then another, to feel when they were boiledtender: but of upwards of twenty greens which I thus dressed, only oneproved eatable, all the rest becoming more stringy, tough, andinsipid for the cooking. The one I have excepted was a round, thick,woolly-leafed plant, which boiled tender and tasted as well as spinach;I therefore preserved some leaves of this to know it again by; and fordistinction called it by the name of that herb.

  I then began upon my fruits of the pear and quince kind, at least eightdifferent sorts; but I found I could make nothing of them, for they weremost of them as rough and crabbed after stewing as before, so I laidthem all aside. Lastly, I boiled my ram's-horn and cream-cheese, as Icalled them, together. Upon tasting the latter of these, it was becomeso watery and insipid, I laid it aside as useless. I then cut the otherand tasted the juice, which proved so exceeding pleasant that I took alarge gulp or two of it, and tossed it into the kettle again.

  Having now gone through the several kinds of my exotics, I had a mindto re-examine them after cooling, but could make nothing of any of mygreens but the spinach. I tried several berries and nuts too, but, savea few sort of nuts, they were all very tasteless. Then I began to reviewthe fruits, and could find but two sorts that I had any the least hopesfrom. I then laid the best by and threw the others away. After thisprocess, which took me up near a whole day, and clearing my house ofgood-for-nothings, I returned to reexamine my cheese, that was growncold, and was now so dry and hard I could not get my teeth into it; uponwhich I was going to skim it away out of my grotto, saying, "Go, thouworthless!" (for I always spoke aloud my thoughts to myself)--I say Iwas just despatching it when I checked my hands, and as I could makeno impression with my teeth, had a mind to try what my knife would do.Accordingly I began at the edge of the quarter, for I had boiled but aquarter of it, but the rind was grown so hard and brittle that my knifeslipping and raking along the cut edge of it, scratched off some powderas white as possible; I then scraped it backward and forward some time,till I found it would all scrape away in this powder, except the rind,upon which I laid it aside again for farther experiment.

  During this review my kettle and ram's-horn had been boiling, tillhearing it blubber very loud, and seeing there was but little liquor init, I whipped it off the fire, for fear of burning its bottom, but tookno further notice of it till about two hours after; when returningto the grotto, I went to wash out my kettle, but could scarce get myram's-horn from the bottom; and when I did, it brought up with it asort of pitchy substance, though not so black, and several gummy threadshanging to it, drawn out to a great length. I wondered at this, andthought the shell of the ram's-horn had melted, or some such thing,till, venturing to put a little of the stuff on my tongue, it proved tomy thinking as good treacle as I had ever tasted.

  This new discovery pleased me very much. I scraped all the sweet thingup, and laid it near my grotto in a large leaf of one of the trees(about two feet long, and broad in proportion) to prevent its runningabout. In getting this curiosity out of my kettle, I found in it a smallpiece of my cheese, which I suppose had been broke off in stirring; andbiting it (for it was soft enough) I think it was the most luscious anddelicate morsel I ever put into my lips. This unexpected good fortuneput me on trying the best of my pears again; so setting on my kettle,with very little water, and putting some of my treacle into it, and twoof the best pears quartered, I found, upon a little boiling, they alsobecame an excellent dainty.

  Having succeeded so well, I was quite ripe for another journey withmy cart; which I accordingly undertook, taking my route over the stonebridge, to see what the other side of the lake produced. In travellingthrough t
he trees, I met, amongst other things, with abundance of largegourds, which, climbing the trees, displayed their fruit to the heightof twenty or thirty feet above the ground. I cut a great many ofthese, and some very large ones of different hues and forms; which ofthemselves making a great load, with some few new sorts of berries andgreens, were the gathering of that day. But I must tell you I was almostfoiled in getting them home; for coming to my stone bridge, it rose sosteep, and was so much ruggeder than the grass or wood ground, that Iwas at a set upon the first entrance and terribly afraid that I shouldeither break my wheels or pull off my axle-trees. Hereupon I was forcedto unload, and carry my cargo over in my arms to the other side of thebridge; whither having then, with less fear but much caution, drawn mycart, I loaded again and got safe home.

  I was mightily pleased with the acquisitions of this journey; for now,thought I, I shall have several convenient family utensils; so spent thenext day or two in scooping my gourds and cleaning away the pulp. When Ihad done this, finding the rinds to be very weak and yielding, I madea good fire, and setting them round it at a moderate distance to dry,I went about something else without doors: but, alas! my hopes were illfounded; for coming home to turn my gourds and see how dry they were, Ifound them all warped and turned into a variety of uncouth shapes. Thisput me to a stand; but, however, I recovered some pieces of them foruse, as the bottom parts of most of them, after paring away the sides,would hold something, though they by no means answered my first purpose.

  Well, thought I, what if I have lost my gourds, I have gainedexperience. I will dry them next time with the guts in, and havingstiffened their rinds in their proper dimensions, then try to cleansethem. So next morning (for I was very eager at it) I set out with mycart for another load; and having handed them over the bridge, got safewith them to the grotto. These by proper management proved exceedinglyvaluable to me, answering, in one way or other, the several uses ofplates, bottles, pans, and divers other vessels.

  I now got a large quantity of the vegetable ram's-horn, and filled agreat many of the gourds with the treacle it yielded; I also boiled anddried a large parcel of my cheeses, and hung them up for use, for I hadnow for some time made all my bread of the latter, scraping and bruisingthe flour, and mixing it with my treacle and water; and this indeed madesuch a sweet and nourishing bread, that I could even have lived whollyupon it; but I afterwards very much improved it by putting the milkyjuice of the ram's-horn, unboiled, to my flour in a small quantity, andthen baking it on the hearth, covered over with embers. This detractednothing from the sweetness and mellowness of my bread, but made it muchlighter than the treacle alone would have done.

  Finding there was no fear of starving, but so far from it, that fromday to day I found out something new to add to my repast, either insubstantials or by way of dessert, I set me down very well contentedwith my condition. I had nothing to do but to lay up store againstsickness and the dark weather, which last I expected would soon be uponme, as the days were now exceeding short. Indeed, though I had now beenhere six months, I had never seen the sun since I first entered thegulf; and though there was very little rain, and but few clouds, yet thebrightest daylight never exceeded that of half an hour after sunset inthe summer-time in England, and little more than just reddened thesky. For the first part of my time here, there was but little if anydifference between day and night; but afterwards, what I might call thenight, or lesser degree of light, took up more hours than the greater,and went on gradually increasing as to time, so that I perceived totaldarkness approached, such as I had on board my ship the year before.