Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2) by Johann David Wyss (inspirational books for students .txt) 📕
- Author: Johann David Wyss
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Sea, And, Turning them On Their Backs, Fasten Them To A Stake, Driven
In Close By The Water'S Edge, By A Cord Passed through A Hole In their
Shell. We Thus Had Fresh Turtle Continually Within Our Reach; For The
Animals Throve Well Thus Secured, And Appeared in as Good Condition,
After Having been Kept Thus For Several Weeks, As Others When Freshly
Caught. Lobsters, Crabs And Mussels Also Abounded on The Shore. But
This Was Not All; An Additional Surprise Awaited us.
Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 5As We Were One Morning approaching tentholm, We Were Attracted by A
Most Curious Phenomenon. The Waters Out To Sea Appeared agitated by
Some Unseen Movement, And As They Heaved and Boiled, Their Surface,
Struck By The Beams Of The Morning sun, Seemed illuminated by Flashes
Of Fire.
Over The Water Where This Disturbance Was Taking place Hovered
Hundreds Of Birds, Screaming loudly, Which Ever And Anon Would Dart
Downwards, Some Plunging beneath The Water, Some Skimming the Surface.
Then Again They Would Rise And Resume Their Harsh Cries. The Shining,
Sparkling mass Then Rolled onwards, And Approached in a Direct Line Our
Bay, Followed by The Feathered flock Above. We Hurried down To The
Shore To Further Examine This Strange Sight.
I Was Convinced as We Approached that It Was A Shoal Or Bank Of
Herrings.
No Sooner Did I Give Utterance To My Conjecture, Than I Was Assailed by
A Host Of Questions Concerning this Herring-Bank, What It Was, And What
Occasioned it.
`A Herring-Bank,' I Said, `Is Composed of An Immense Number Of
Herrings Swimming together. I Can Scarcely Express To You The Huge Size
Of This Living bank, Which Extends Over A Great Area Many Fathoms Deep.
It Is Followed by Numbers Of Great Ravenous Fish, Who Devour Quantities
Of The Herrings, While Above Hover Birds, As You Have Just Seen, Ready
To Pounce Down On Stragglers Near The Top. To Escape These Enemies, The
Shoal Makes For The Nearest Shore, And Seeks Safety In those Shallows
Where The Large Fish Cannot Follow. But Here It Meets With A Third
Great Enemy.
`It May Escape From The Fish, And Elude The Vigilance Of Sharp-Sighted
Birds, But From The Ingenuity Of Man It Can Find No Escape. In one Year
Millions Of These Fish Are Caught, And Yet The Roes Of Only A Small
Number Would Be Sufficient To Supply As Many Fish Again.'
Soon Our Fishery Was In operation. Jack And Fritz Stood In the Water
With Baskets, And Baled out The Fish, As One Bales Water With A Bucket,
Throwing them To Us On The Shore. As Quickly As Possible We Cleaned
Them, And Placed them In casks With Salt, First A Layer Of Salt, And
Then A Layer Of Herrings, And So On, Until We Had Ready Many Casks Of
Pickled fish.
As The Barrels Were Filled, We Closed them Carefully, And Rolled them
Away To The Cool Vaults At The Back Of Our Cave. Our Good Fortune,
However, Was Not To End Here. A Day After The Herring fishery Was Over,
And The Shoal Had Left Our Bay, A Great Number Of Seals Appeared,
Attracted by The Refuse Of The Herrings Which We Had Thrown Into The
Sea.
Though I Feared they Would Not Be Suitable For Our Table, We Yet
Secured a Score Or Two For The Sake Of Their Skins And Fat. The Skins
We Drew Carefully Off For Harness And Clothing, And The Fat We Boiled
Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 6Down For Oil, Which We Put Aside In casks For Tanning, Soap-Making, And
Burning in lamps.
These Occupations Interfered for Some Time With Our Work At Rock
House; But As Soon As Possible We Again Returned to Our Labour With
Renewed vigour. I Had Noticed that The Salt Crystals Had For Their Base
A Species Of Gypsum, Which I Knew Might Be Made Of Great Service To Us
In Our Building operations As Plaster.
As An Experiment, I Broke Off Some Pieces, And, After Subjecting them
To Great Heat, Reduced them To Powder. The Plaster This Formed with
Water Was Smooth And White, And As I Had Then No Particular Use To
Which I Might Put It, I Plastered over Some Of The Herring casks, That
I Might Be Perfectly Certain That All Air Was Excluded. The Remainder
Of The Casks I Left As They Were, For I Presently Intended to Preserve
Their Contents By Smoking.
To Do This, The Boys And I Built A Small Hut Of Reeds And Branches, And
Then We Strung Our Herrings On Lines Across The Roof. On The Floor We
Lit A Great Fire Of Brushwood And Moss, Which Threw Out A Dense Smoke,
Curling in volumes Round The Fish, And They In a Few Days Seemed
Perfectly Cured.
About A Month After The Appearance Of The Herrings We Were Favoured by
A Visit From Other Shoals Of Fish. Jack Espied them First, And Called
To Us That A Lot Of Young Whales Were Off The Coast. We Ran Down And
Discovered the Bay Apparently Swarming with Great Sturgeon, Salmon, And
Trout, All Making for The Mouth Of Jackal River, That They Might Ascend
It And Deposit Their Spawn Amongst The Stones.
Jack Was Delighted at His Discovery. `Here Are Proper Fish!' He
Exclaimed, `None Of Your Paltry Fry. How Do You Preserve These Sorts Of
Fish? Potted, Salted or Smoked?'
`Not So Fast,' Said I, `Not So Fast; Tell Me How They Are To Be
Caught, And I Will Tell You How They Are To Be Cooked.'
`Oh! I'Ll Catch Them Fast Enough,' He Replied, And Darted off To Rock
House.
While I Was Still Puzzling my Brains As To How I Should Set To Work, He
Returned with His Fishing apparatus In hand: A Bow And Arrow, And A
Ball Of Twine.
At The Arrow-Head He Had Fastened a Barbed spike, And Had Secured the
Arrow To The End Of The String. Armed with This Weapon, He Advanced to
The River'S Edge.
His Arrow Flew From The Bow, And, To My Surprise, Struck One Of The
Largest Fish In the Side.
`Help, Father, Help!' He Cried, As The Great Fish Darted off, Carrying
Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 7Arrow And All With It. `Help! Or He Will Pull Me Into The Water.'
I Ran To His Assistance, And Together We Struggled with The Finny
Monster. He Pulled tremendously, And Lashed the Water Around Him; But
We Held The Cord Fast, And He Had No Chance Of Escape. Weaker And
Weaker Grew His Struggles, And, At Length, Exhausted by His Exertions
And Loss Of Blood, He Allowed us To Draw Him Ashore.
He Was A Noble Prize, And Fritz And Ernest, Who Came Up Just As We
Completed his Capture, Were Quite Envious Of Jack'S Success.
Not To Be Behindhand, They Eagerly Rushed off For Weapons Themselves.
We Were Soon All In the Water, Fritz With A Harpoon, Ernest With A Rod
And Line, And I Myself, Armed like Neptune, With An Iron Trident, Or
More Properly Speaking, Perhaps, A Pitchfork. Soon The Shore Was Strewn
With A Goodly Number Of The Finest Fish--Monster After Monster We Drew
To Land. At Length Fritz, After Harpooning a Great Sturgeon Full Eight
Feet Long, Could Not Get The Beast Ashore; We All Went To His
Assistance, But Our United efforts Were Unavailing.
`The Buffalo!' Proposed my Wife, And Off Went Jack For Storm. Storm Was
Harnessed to The Harpoon Rope, And Soon The Monstrous Fish Lay Panting
On The Sand. We At Length, When We Had Captured as Many Fish As We
Could Possibly Utilize, Set About Cleaning and Preparing their Flesh.
Some We Salted, Some We Dried like The Herrings, Some We Treated like
The Tunny Of The Mediterranean--We Prepared them In oil.
Of The Roe Of The Sturgeon I Decided to Form Caviare, The Great
Russian Dish. I Removed from It All The Membranes By Which It Is
Surrounded, Washed it In vinegar, Salted it, Pressed out All The
Moisture Caused by The Water-Absorbing properties Of The Salt, Packed
It In small Barrels And Stowed it Away In our Storehouse.
I Knew That Of The Sturgeon'S Bladder The Best Isinglass Is Made, So
Carefully Collecting the Air-Bladders From All Those We Had Killed, I
Washed them And Hung Them Up To Stiffen. The Outer Coat Or Membrane I
Then Peeled off, Cutting the Remainder Into Strips, Technically Called
Staples.
These Staples I Place In an Iron Pot Over The Fire, And When They Had
Been Reduced to A Proper Consistency I Strained off The Glue Through A
Clean Cloth, And Spread It Out On A Slab Of Stone In thin Layers,
Letting them Remain Until They Were Dry. The Substance I Thus Obtained
Was Beautifully Transparent, And Promised to Serve As An Excellent
Substitute For Glass In our Window-Frames.
Fortunately, In this Beautiful Climate Little Or No Attention Was
Necessary To The Kitchen Garden, The Seeds Sprang Up And Flourished
Without Apparently The Slightest Regard For The Time Or Season Of The
Year. Peas, Beans, Wheat, Barley, Rye And Indian Corn, Seemed
Constantly Ripe, While Cucumbers, Melons, And All Sorts Of Other
Vegetables Grew Luxuriantly. The Success Of Our Garden At Tentholm
Encouraged me To Hope That My Experiment At Falconhurst Had Not Failed,
And One Morning we Started to Visit The Spot.
Part 3 Chapter 1 Pg 8
As We Passed by The Field From Which The Potatoes Had Been Dug, We
Found It Covered with Barley, Wheat, Rye And Peas In profusion. I
Turned to My Wife In amazement. `Where Has This Fine Crop Sprung From?'
Said I.
`From The Earth,' She Replied, Laughing, `Where Franz And I Sowed the
Seed i Brought From The Wreck. The Ground Was Ready Tilled by You And
The
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