Swiss Family Robinson | Page 6

for I hardly
expected they would be able to swim to land; but by occasionally resting their forepaws
on our out-riggers, they managed to keep up with us. Turk was an English dog, and Flora
of a Danish breed.
We proceeded slowly, but safely. The nearer we approached the land, the more dreary
and unpromising it appeared. The rocky coast seemed to announce to us nothing but
famine and misery. The waves, gently rippling against the shore, were scattered over with
barrels, bales, and chests from the wreck. Hoping to secure some good provisions, I
called on Fritz for assistance; he held a cord, hammer, and nails, and we managed to seize
two hogsheads in passing, and fastening them with cords to our vessel, drew them after
us to the shore.
As we approached, the coast seemed to improve. The chain of rock was not entire, and
Fritz's hawk eye made out some trees, which he declared were the cocoa-nut tree; Ernest
was delighted at the prospect of eating these nuts, so much larger and better than any
grown in Europe. I was regretting not having brought the large telescope from the
captain's cabin, when Jack produced from his pocket a smaller one, which he offered me
with no little pride.
This was a valuable acquisition, as I was now enabled to make the requisite observations,
and direct my course. The coast before us had a wild and desert appearance,--it looked
better towards the left; but I could not approach that part, for a current which drove us
towards the rocky and barren shore. At length we saw, near the mouth of a rivulet, a little
creek between the rocks, towards which our geese and ducks made, serving us for guides.
This opening formed a little bay of smooth water, just deep enough for our boat. I
cautiously entered it, and landed at a place where the coast was about the height of our
tubs, and the water deep enough to let us approach. The shore spread inland, forming a
gentle declivity of a triangular form, the point lost among the rocks, and the base to the
sea.
All that were able leaped on shore in a moment. Even little Francis, who had been laid
down in his tub, like a salted herring, tried to crawl out, but was compelled to wait for his
mother's assistance. The dogs, who had preceded us in landing, welcomed us in a truly
friendly manner, leaping playfully around us; the geese kept up a loud cackling, to which
the yellow-billed ducks quacked a powerful bass. This, with the clacking of the liberated
fowls, and the chattering of the boys, formed a perfect Babel; mingled with these, were
the harsh cries of the penguins and flamingoes, which hovered over our heads, or sat on
the points of the rocks. They were in immense numbers, and their notes almost deafened
us, especially as they did not accord with the harmony of our civilized fowls. However I

rejoiced to see these feathered creatures, already fancying them on my table, if we were
obliged to remain in this desert region.
Our first care, when we stepped in safety on land, was to kneel down and thank God, to
whom we owed our lives; and to resign ourselves wholly to his Fatherly kindness.
We then began to unload our vessel. How rich we thought ourselves with the little we had
saved! We sought a convenient place for our tent, under the shade of the rocks. We then
inserted a pole into a fissure in the rock; this, resting firmly on another pole fixed in the
ground, formed the frame of the tent. The sailcloth was then stretched over it, and
fastened down at proper distances, by pegs, to which, for greater security, we added some
boxes of provision; we fixed some hooks to the canvas at the opening in front, that we
might close the entrance during the night. I sent my sons to seek some moss and withered
grass, and spread it in the sun to dry, to form our beds; and while all, even little Francis,
were busy with this, I constructed a sort of cooking-place, at some distance from the tent,
near the river which was to supply us with fresh water. It was merely a hearth of flat
stones from the bed of the stream, fenced round with some thick branches. I kindled a
cheerful fire with some dry twigs, put on the pot, filled with water and some squares of
portable soup, and left my wife, with Francis for assistant, to prepare dinner. He took the
portable soup for glue, and could not conceive how mamma could make soup, as we had
no meat, and there were no butchers' shops here.
Fritz, in the mean