Chapter 7 No.7

A Cocoanut Calendar; Food Supply.

The notches in the cocoanut calendar grew in number as the days passed, busy days of hard, incessant labor, and four months of my exile elapsed ere the house was finished to my satisfaction and a substantial stockade erected around it. The walls of my house were made of the wild canes closely woven like basket-work. It had been done very carefully, and, when completed, I had a perfect shelter, both from the sun and the wind. The roof was made of the long grass, alternate with layers of bamboos; and by using the larger bamboos in the centre of the roof, when by successive layers it reached the proper thickness, I had a roof which sloped steeply from the centre to each edge, which, carefully covered with an outside layer of the long grass dressed from the top downward, would perfectly shed the water during the rainy season. The thickness of the roof rendered it impervious to wet, and, as I soon discovered, almost a non-conductor of heat.

I left no windows in the house, as I thought there would be sufficient ventilation through the interstices of the cane-walls, but I constructed a door three feet wide and five feet high, by lashing bamboos together in the form of a gridiron, and then weaving in cane as I had done in constructing the walls. For hinges I made use of vines twisted together.

The stockade surrounded the house at a distance of about six feet from either side, and it cost me several weeks of steady work. I had first to cut a great number of good-sized bamboos, which, with only my knife, was very laborious work. I had frequently to sharpen the knife on a piece of soft, porous rock which I found near the brook.

Each bamboo was cut off to a length of ten feet, and sharpened at the small, or upper end. These I set into the ground at intervals of one foot, to a depth of two feet. Then, at a distance of one foot from the top all around the enclosure, I lashed long bamboos, using the tough vine which I found in abundance near the edge of the bush, winding it around each upright bamboo, and around the horizontal poles. Between the horizontal pole and the ground, I wove a close basketwork of the vine. It was harder work weaving in this vine, as it was larger than the canes; but it was very tough, and a wall composed of it closely woven would prove a very effective defense.

So I kept busily at work, day after day, cutting the vines, trimming off the leaves, dragging them to the house and weaving them in around the bamboo uprights, until I finally had a wall about me elastic but capable of sustaining a great strain, the sharpened ends of the upright bamboos forming an effectual safeguard against the walls being scaled from the outside.

After the woven-work of vines was thoroughly seasoned, which did not take long, I cut round holes six inches in diameter, four on each side, about five feet from the ground, in order that I might command a view in all directions without leaving the enclosure.

In the side facing the sea, I made a door, constructed in a manner similar to that in the house; but, for the stockade door, I devised an arrangement for securely barring it on the inside, by using two large bamboos each two feet longer than the door was wide, held in place by rings of the supple vine which I twisted about the two door-posts.

These rings were made by first bending several inches of one end of the vine in the form of a circle, and then winding the rest of the vine around this ring. Through these the ends of the bars passing across the door were placed, which, if anything, made the opening, when closed and fastened inside, stronger than any other portion of the structure.

During all this time I had lived solely upon cocoanuts and oranges, varied with a few shellfish, somewhat resembling periwinkles, only larger, that I found along the beach. These I ate raw, and found them rather palatable but somewhat tough. However, as I continued in good health and strength, I preferred to complete my house and stockade before making a systematic attempt to provide other food.

Nothing now remained to be done in connection with my dwelling, but to carry into execution an idea which I had evolved while at work, that of transplanting some creepers from the edge of the forest and training them along the stockade, so that, as I calculated, in a short time, in this tropical land of rapid growth, they would completely cover the stockade, and render my retreat more safe from observation, should my solitude be invaded.

During all this time I had suspended work on Sundays, but I had occupied the time in making short trips inland, and along the coast in either direction; but finding the forest very dense as I left the shore, I could not have gone more than four or five miles in any direction. My trips along the shore were without results, so far as enlightenment concerning the extent of the island was concerned, for every bend of the coast revealed only headlands and more coast-line stretching away beyond.

The results of my wandering in the bush had troubled me not a little, for I had found no new fruits and vegetables, and had discovered no animals, or birds that I could bring myself to think edible. There were only parrots and smaller birds, some of brilliant plumage; and even had I chosen to eat them I had no means of securing the game. I was somewhat surprised not to find more humming birds. I saw only one kind, a large, black species, having two tiny golden feathers each about six inches long at the sides of its tail. Of snakes, I had seen none, nor land turtles.

The sea-shore, too, seemed to be as devoid of food supplies, for I had seen no sea turtle, though I knew that they should be plentiful in this latitude.

But I refrained from attempting a systematic exploration, feeling it would be wise to first provide as secure a retreat as possible for my permanent headquarters.