The Little Savage | Page 3

of
islands to which the Peruvians despatch vessels every year to collect
the guano, or refuse of the sea birds which resort to the islands; but the
one on which we were was small, and detached some distance from the
others, on which the guano was found in great profusion; so that
hitherto it had been neglected, and no vessel had ever come near it.
Indeed, the other islands were not to be seen from it except on a very
clear day, when they appeared like a cloud or mist on the horizon. The
shores of the island were, moreover, so precipitous, that there was no
landing place, and the eternal wash of the ocean would have made it
almost impossible for a vessel to have taken off a cargo. Such was the
island upon which I found myself in company with this man. Our cabin
was built of ship-plank and timber, under the shelter of a cliff, about
fifty yards from the water; there was a flat of about thirty yards square

in front of it, and from the cliff there trickled down a rill of water,
which fell into a hole dug out to collect it, and then found its way over
the flat to the rocks beneath. The cabin itself was large, and capable of
holding many more people than had ever lived in it; but it was not too
large, as we had to secure in it our provisions for many months. There
were several bed-places level with the floor, which were rendered soft
enough to lie on, by being filled with the feathers of birds. Furniture
there was none, except two or three old axes, blunted with long use, a
tin pannikin, a mess kid and some rude vessels to hold water, cut out of
wood. On the summit of the island there was a forest of underwood,
and the bushes extended some distance down the ravines which led
from the summit to the shore. One of my most arduous tasks was to
climb these ravines and collect wood, but fortunately a fire was not
often required. The climate was warm all the year round, and there
seldom was a fall of rain; when it did fall, it was generally expended on
the summit of the island, and did not reach us. At a certain period of the
year, the birds came to the island in numberless quantities to breed, and
their chief resort was some tolerably level ground-- indeed, in many
places, it was quite level with the accumulation of guano--which
ground was divided from the spot where our cabin was built by a deep
ravine. On this spot, which might perhaps contain about twenty acres or
more, the sea birds would sit upon their eggs, not four inches apart
from each other, and the whole surface of this twenty acres would be
completely covered with them. There they would remain from the time
of the laying of the eggs, until the young ones were able to leave the
nests and fly away with them. At the season when the birds were on the
island, all was gaiety, bustle, and noise, but after their departure it was
quiet and solitude. I used to long for their arrival, and was delighted
with the animation which gladdened the island, the male birds diving in
every direction after fish, wheeling and soaring in the air, and uttering
loud cries, which were responded to by their mates on the nests.
But it was also our harvest time; we seldom touched the old birds, as
they were not in flesh, but as soon as the young ones were within a few
days of leaving the nests, we were then busy enough. In spite of the
screaming and the flapping of their wings in our faces, and the darting
their beaks at our eyes, of the old birds, as we robbed them of their

progeny, we collected hundreds every day, and bore as heavy a load as
we could carry across the ravine to the platform in front of our cabin,
where we busied ourselves in skinning them, splitting them, and
hanging them out to dry in the sun. The air of the island was so pure
that no putrefaction ever took place, and during the last fortnight of the
birds coming on the island, we had collected a sufficiency for our
support until their return on the following year. As soon as they were
quite dry they were packed up in a corner of the cabin for use.
These birds were, it may be said, the only produce of the island, with
the exception of fish, and the eggs taken at the time of their first
making their nests. Fish were to be taken in large quantities. It was
sufficient to