Chapter 4 No.4

Cast up by the Sea on a Tropical Island.

When I regained consciousness I was lying upon a sandy beach. I was uninjured, but rather stiff, while my body seemed to be bruised in places. I was, of course, wet to the skin, and I crawled up and lay upon the sand where my clothing was quickly dried by the hot sun, now well up.

Meanwhile I looked about me. I had been driven ashore between two points of land, upon a narrow beach. The vegetation, very thick and luxuriant, grew close to the line of sand, and all around me, beautiful trees were waving in the balmy breeze, their shining leaves glistening in the sunlight.

I stood up and looked behind me, but I saw nothing save lofty mountains heavily wooded.

I had no doubt but that I was on an island, indeed I could be nowhere else, and I judged that it must be one of the most northern of the Leeward group.

Looking toward the sea, I saw only the broad expanse of deep blue water stretching away to the horizon. There was no other land in sight.

The sea had become calmer, but the influence of the storm was still evidenced by the heavy surf which broke upon the narrow beach. There was no wreckage of any kind, no sign of anything or anybody belonging to the bark.

At first the utter lonesomeness and hopelessness of my situation depressed me; but it would not do to give way to gloomy thoughts. I was entirely alone, and, so far as I knew, upon an uninhabited island. My future was a sealed book. After a while I began to take a more hopeful view of the situation, and the novelty of my surroundings, and the strange things about me, aroused my curiosity. So I determined to explore along the shore.

The vegetation was very dense, and appeared to be interwoven with vines of monstrous size. One kind of tree, very tall and with a heavy long narrow leaf seemed to be the most abundant; and from the descriptions which I had read, and by the clusters of oblong fruit at the bases of the leaf-heads, I knew them to be cocoanut palms.

"If I am really alone upon an uninhabited island," I thought, "at least I shall not starve so long as I am able to obtain plenty of cocoanuts."

Slowly I walked along the shore, my face being toward the east as I knew from the direction of the sun. First I decided to go to the top of the loftiest headland to see if I could obtain any trace of the bark, although I felt sure that she had gone down, and that all but myself had perished; still, the loneliness of my situation caused me to cling to what I felt was but a vain hope, that some one beside myself had survived.

With thoughts confused, and laboring under varying emotions, I walked slowly along, keeping on the sand except when I was obliged to turn aside to avoid a kind of dagger-like plant whose leaves were armed with cruel points.

Reaching the headland I was obliged to go through a thicket where my scanty clothing, as well as my hands, was torn by great thorns. However, I reached the point of land, and climbing to the top of a high mound I looked around. Before me, and to my right and left, there was nothing but the blue, heaving ocean; and behind me, I saw nothing but a dense forest, with lofty mountains in the distance. There was no sign of life save brilliant plumaged birds flitting about, and bright colored butterflies glancing in the sunshine.

Surely I was alone; but whether on an uninhabited island or not, the future alone would reveal. For the present it did not matter, and I must certainly depend upon my own resources.

I returned to the spot where I had been cast ashore, meanwhile revolving in my mind my present condition. What gave me great anxiety just then was my lack of clothing. I had on only my trousers, and shirt, shoes and stockings; and these were all I possessed in the world, but I was overjoyed to find that my knife was still in one of the pockets of my trousers. It was a good one, large and having two blades. The large blade was long and strong, and the possession of it might mean much to me in the future.

Reaching the place where I regained consciousness after being thrown ashore by the waves. I began to think of finding a good place to build a temporary shelter. This seemed to be as good a location as any, I thought, as I looked around. It was in a sheltered cove, a clear, grassy plat surrounded by trees.

"Why not make my camp right here," I asked myself; and as I reflected it seemed to be the only place where I should locate for the present, for here I should be in a position to watch closely in the hope that some vestige of the bark would yet be washed ashore; for I thought that, if the vessel had foundered, something belonging to her would very likely come ashore, and I felt sure that some parts of the boats, and perhaps the bodies of some of my unfortunate companions would be almost sure to drift in.

It was, I judged, now near mid-day, and the heat of the sun upon my head gave me some concern. I must devise some covering for my head. Looking about with this object in view, I saw hanging from a small palm tree what looked like coarse canvas. On examining it more closely, I found that it was really a sort of natural cloth, about the color of hemp, and composed of fibres that appeared to be very strong, crossing one another like warp and filling, but not interwoven. Instead, the fibres were closely stuck together so that a strong, pliant fabric was formed.

With my knife I cut off a large piece which I twisted about in such a manner as to form a conical cap. The edges I fastened together with long, sharp thorns that I cut from some bushes near by. This, though rude, would protect my head for the time being.

Before proceeding to begin the construction of my place of abode, I felt inclined to look about for some means of satisfying the hunger which I now felt keenly, for I had eaten nothing since supper the night before on board the ill-fated bark.

The cocoanut trees suggested the most available source of supply for the first meal in the strange surroundings in which I found myself; so going to a cluster of the trees near by, meanwhile wondering how I would manage to obtain the nuts fifty feet or more above my head, I was greatly relieved to find plenty of them lying upon the ground. But the nuts that I saw were not like those common in the markets at home. Instead, they were oblong and many times larger. I soon discovered that to get at the meat I must first cut away the outer husk or covering with which it was enveloped; so I opened my knife and set to work. It was no easy task, for the husk was thick and tough; but after much labor I succeeded in removing it until I bared the round, hard shell of the nut, when, with a large stone I was not long in cracking it, and laying bare the white meat. With the nut in my hands I walked about among the trees as I ate. So interested was I in the beautiful, brilliant-colored flowers, some of which were of enormous size, and in numbers of little green lizards that hopped about over the leaves of the smaller shrubs, that I did not at once notice, as I came into a grassy, circular plat, that the ground beneath a compact, shapely tree was plentifully besprinkled with golden globes, and I was in a high state of elation when I discovered that they were oranges. The tree itself was loaded with green and yellow fruit. I peeled one of the largest, and found that it was delicious and juicy, but of a rather different flavor from those to which I had been accustomed. But here was at least both refreshment and sustenance, so I was in no danger of starving, and I made a hearty meal.

Crossing the grassy plat where the orange tree grew, I descended a gentle slope among the palm trees and soon came to a beautiful little stream of clear water. Having still one of the halves of the cocoanut shell in my hand, I used it as a cup and took a long draught of the water, which, though rather warm, appeared to be pure and wholesome.

The stream at this point was quite broad and very shallow, and though but a few rods from the mouth it flowed quite swiftly. Along the banks I noticed that a certain tall, reed-like plant grew in great profusion, and, on closer examination I discovered it to be a kind of wild cane, with large, feathery, chocolate-colored plumes.

I followed the bank of the stream to the shore, and then returned to my landing place, walking along the narrow beach.

Hunger satisfied for the time-being, I set about making preparations for constructing my dwelling. Although in no need of protection from cold in this tropical climate, I remembered having read that it was not advisable to be without shelter at night, so I decided that my first task should be to construct a house, or a hut.

I first chose a clear place a little in among the palms, perhaps a dozen rods from the beach, and, as accurately as I could by pacing, I measured off an area ten feet square. Each corner I marked by driving down a short stick, and then went in search of four corner posts. After a little searching I found some straight trees about three inches in diameter, having smooth bark and with but few limbs, each tree forked about seven feet from the ground. After an hour's hard work, I succeeded in cutting down four of them with my knife; and after trimming off the branches and cutting off the tops, leaving ample forks, I dragged them to the site of lay dwelling. I next felled another pole which was cut in halves, leaving the butt end about four feet long. This I sharpened at the thickest end, and with it made holes about eighteen inches deep at each corner of the square to be occupied by my house.

Into each of these holes I set one of the forked corner posts, wedging it firmly with stones from the beach, driven solidly down all around it, filling in each with earth which I trod down firmly. Four long poles were now needed to rest one end in each of the upright forks, so as to form a frame, and I started away again, this time toward the brook, which I followed up stream. I had gone but a short distance when I came to a place where the stream widened into a broad pool. The water here was dark and apparently deep, and all around it, gracefully bending over the still depths, I found growing tall plants having small, narrow green leaves. The plants grew in clusters, and some of them were very tall, I judged from twenty-five to forty feet. I hurried forward with a view to ascertaining whether they would suit my purpose, when I immediately made a discovery which at once solved the question of obtaining an ample supply of material for building operations, both now and in the future; for the tall, graceful plants proved to be bamboos. I knew them from the descriptions I had read, and from the regular joints, just like those I had seen on the bamboo fishing rods at home.

I selected several of the bamboos, each being about two inches in diameter, and although I found them to be very hard, I managed to cut them down, and to trim off the branches and the tops. By making three trips I dragged the bamboos to my building site. Laying them along one side of the area to be occupied by the house, I found that they were nearly twenty feet long. Four of them I cut off to the required length. I then raised one on either side, one end of each pole resting in one of the forks of the uprights. A pole was then laid across each of the other sides, resting upon the poles supported by the forks, so that a sort of scaffold was formed, which needed only to be covered over to be complete.

I had worked so busily and had become so much interested that I scarcely noticed that the sun was already sinking behind the palm trees, and casting long shadows across the beach; so, as I was aware that darkness very quickly follows sunset in the tropics, I must make haste and provide a temporary shelter for the night before suspending work. I therefore cut the rest of the poles in halves and laid them across the two longer poles resting in the forks, thus forming a gridiron-like structure. With my knife I cut a large quantity of leafy branches from the shrubs that grew near at hand, and then went to the brook for an armful of wild canes. With this material I covered a portion of the scaffold, making quite a good shelter between myself and the sky.

As the sun sank lower and the shadows deepened, I felt a sense of loneliness steal over me, for the idea of spending the night alone, I knew not where, perhaps on an island, with the boundless ocean on one side, and a deep, unknown forest on the other which might conceal fierce wild animals, was not at all pleasing. But I must train myself to know no fear, and the sooner I began to school myself to this end, the better.

Although I felt sure I should not sleep with nothing to protect me and with no means of making a fire, I instinctively began to think of providing some sort of couch; and again I took my knife and cut a quantity of bushes which I piled in the form of a bed beneath the scaffold. I next cut several armfuls of the tall grass which grew all around and with it covered the couch of bushes. I now had an acceptable bed, so constructed that one end which was to serve as the head, was about a foot higher than the other.

By the time I had finished it was quite dark; but I still stood leaning against one of the corner uprights with my face turned toward the forest, hesitating what to do next, and instinctively listening for some new sound. There was no breeze stirring, and the sea lightly washed the sand with a low murmur which tended to increase my feeling of loneliness. Since sunset the air had become beautifully cool. For a long time I stood motionless.

The sounds of the night were about me; and once I started violently when I thought I heard a twig crack. Then I heard, apparently only a little distance away, a noise like a stone, thrown by some one, striking the ground; but, after the startled feeling had partly left me I reasoned that the noise was made by a ripened cocoanut falling from the tree. The indistinct notes of many insects, new and strange, filled the air, and one particularly noisy insect gave forth a sharp clipping sound like that made by shears in the hands of a barber. Sometimes a note like that of a bird varied the myriads of sounds. Feeling reassured, after a time, I cautiously lay down upon my couch, but still listening. How long I remained conscious I cannot say; but I must have been very weary from the excitement of the ship-wreck, the hardship of being cast ashore and the busy day's work.