An American Robinson Crusoe

  Robinson was fast losing his idle, thoughtless ways of doing things.He had become a thoughtful and diligent man in the short time thathe had been on the island. Trouble and hardship had made a man of him."I must carefully think over the whole matter of getting fire," hesaid. He had failed twice and was now resolved to succeed. "If thelightning would only strike a tree," he thought, "and set it on fire."

  But he could not wait for such a thing to happen, and how could hekeep it when once thus obtained? It was clear he must have some wayof producing fire when he wanted it, just as they did at home? He thoughtover the ways he had tried and the one most likely to be successful.He resolved to make a further trial of the method by twirling a stickin his hands. He selected new wood that was hard and dry. He carefullysharpened a stick about eighteen inches long and, standing it uprightin a hollow in the block of wood, began to roll it between his hands.By the time Robinson's hands were well hardened, it seemed that hewas going to succeed at last. But he lacked the skill to be obtainedonly by long practice.

  "If I could only make it go faster," he said. "There must be some wayof doing this. I believe I can do it. I used to make my top spin roundwith a cord; I wonder if I can use the cord here." The only cord hehad was attached to his bow. He was going to take it off when athought struck him. He loosened the string a bit and twisted it onceabout his spindle. Then he drew the bow back and forth. The spindlewas turned at a great rate. He saw he must hold one end with his lefthand while the other rested in the hollow in the block. With hisright, he drew the bow back and forth. How eagerly he worked! He hadtwirled but a few minutes when the dust in the hollow burst into firefrom the heat produced by the rapidly twirling spindle.

  ROBINSON'S TOOLS FOR MAKING FIRE]

  Robinson was too overjoyed to make any use of it. He danced andcapered about like one gone mad until the fire had gone out. But thatwas of no matter now, since he could get fire when he wanted it.

  He hastened to make him a rude fireplace and oven of stones. Hehollowed out a place in the ground and lined and covered it with largeflat stones. On one side he built up a chimney to draw up the smokeand make the fire burn brightly. He brought wood and some dry fungusor mushroom. This he powdered and soon had fire caught in it. Hekindled in this way the wood in his stove and soon had a hot fire.

  The first thing he did in the way of cooking was to roast some rabbitmeat on a spit or forked stick held in his hand over the fire. NothingRobinson had ever eaten was to be compared to this.

  "I can do many things now," thought Robinson. "My work will not benearly so hard. My fire will be my servant and help me make my toolsas well as cook my food. I can now cook my corn and rice."

  XXVIII

  ROBINSON MAKES BASKETS

  Robinson still continued anxious about his food supply when he couldno longer gather it fresh from the fields and forest. Corn had againbecome ripe. He had found in a wet, marshy place some wild rice-plantsloaded with ripened grain. As he now had fire he only had to have someway of storing up grains and he would not lack for food. He knew thatgrain stored away must be kept dry and that he must especially provideagainst dampness in his cave or in his bower.

  If he only had some baskets. These would be just the thing. But howwas he to get them? Robinson had never given a thought to eithermaterial or the method of making them. He, however, was graduallyacquiring skill and confidence in himself. So far he had managed tomeet all his wants. He had invented tools and made his own clothesand shelter, and, "Now," said he to himself, "I will solve the newproblem. I must first study the materials that I have at hand." Heremembered the splint market baskets in which his father tookvegetables home from the store. He recalled how the thin splints werewoven.

  "They went over and under," he said. "That is simple enough if I hadthe splints." He set himself diligently to work to find a plant whosebark or split branches could be used for splints. He tried to peeloff the rough outer bark of several trees in order to examine the innerlayers of soft fibrous material. He found several trees that gavepromise of furnishing abundance of long, thin strips, but the laborof removing the bark with his rude imperfect tools was so great thathe resolved that he would have to find some other kind of material.

  "Why need the strips be flat?" he thought. "I believe I could weavethem in the same way if I used the long, thin, tough willow rods Isaw growing by the brookside, when I was returning from my journey."

  He found on trial that the weaving went very well, but that he musthave strong, thick rods or ribs running up and down to give strengthand form to his basket. He worked hard, but it was slow work. It wasthree days before his first basket was done. He made many mistakesand was obliged many times to undo what he had accomplished in orderto correct some error. And at last when he had woven the basket aslarge as he thought was suitable for his purpose, he did not know howto stop or finish the top so as to keep the basket from unraveling.At last he hit upon the plan of fastening two stout rods, one outside,the other inside, the basket. These he sewed firmly, over and over,to the basket with a kind of fibre from a plant he had discovered thatlooked almost to be what he had heard called the century plant in theparks at home.

  On attempting his next basket, he thought long how he might improveand save time. He must hasten, or the now almost daily rains woulddestroy his ripened wild corn and rice.

  "If I could use coils of that long grass I saw growing in the marshbeside the rice," he thought, "I could make twice the progress." Hegathered an armful, twisted it into cables about an inch thick andwove it into his frame of upright rods instead of the horizontal layerof willow canes. This answered his purpose just as well and renderedthe making of large baskets the work of a few hours. He found,however, that the willow rods or osiers were not pliant enough to workwell in fastening his coils of grass cables together. He tried severalthings and at last succeeded best when he used the long thread-likefibre of the century-like plant. He had, however, to make a stoutframework of rods. He would first coil his grass rope into this frameand then sew it together with twine or thread made from this fibre.

  ROBINSON'S BASKETS]

  He afterwards tried making smaller and finer baskets out of the fibrethat he had discovered, which could be easily had from thethick-leaved plant he thought he had seen at home. He first used long,tough, fine roots he had seen when digging up the tree at the mouthof his cave. Afterwards he discovered some tall, tough reeds growingnear by. He laid in a supply of these. He found that when he wantedto use them, a good soaking in water made them as pliable and toughas when first cut.

  The making of the baskets and storing up grains made it possible forRobinson to become a farmer and thus make himself independent. Thisthought was a great relief to him.

  XXIX

  ROBINSON BECOMES A FARMER

  Robinson had now been on the island long enough to know how theseasons changed. He found that there were two kinds of weather there,wet weather and dry weather. There were two wet seasons in each yearand two dry ones. During the wet seasons, which lasted nearly threemonths, Robinson had to remain pretty closely at home, and could notgather grain, for the plants were then starting from the seeds. Itripened in the dry seasons. Robinson soon found that he must have astore of corn and wild rice for food during the rainy seasons. He,however, knew nothing about planting and harvesting, nor preparingthe ground for seed.

  He had it all to learn with no teacher or books to instruct him. Hefound a little space near his dwelling free from trees and thoughthe would plant some corn seed here. He did not know the proper timefor planting. He thought because it was warm, seed would grow at anytime. It happened his first seed was put in at the beginning of thedry season. He watched and waited to rejoice his eyes with the brightgreen of sprouting corn, but the seed did not grow. There was no rainand the sun's heat parched the land till it was dry and hard on theupland where his corn was planted.

  "Very well," thought Robinson, "I will plant it at the beginning ofthe wet season, either in March or September." He
did so; the seedquickly sprouted up. But the weeds, shrubs, and vines sprouted asquickly, and before Robinson was aware, his corn was overgrown andchoked out by a rank growth of weeds and vines.

  "I see," said Robinson, "that I must thoroughly prepare the soilbefore planting my seed." But he had no spade and no other tool thatwould stand the strain of digging among tough matted roots. But hemust succeed. He put a new handle in the stone hoe or pick he hadalready made. His mussel shell spade was worn out. He must set himselfto fashion out another. He decided to make one from the tough heavywood of a tree that grew plentifully in the forest.

  He was lucky enough to find a tree of this kind whose bole had beensplit lengthwise by the falling of an old rotten tree near it. Withhis stone tools and the help of fire he managed after several days'work to make a wide sharpened tool out of one of the large piecessplit off. It was a little over three feet long. He had trimmed oneend small and cut notches in the sides about one foot from the flatend. He could place his foot in the notch and thrust his wooden spadeinto the earth. With his rude tool he dug up and turned the soil ofa small space of ground several times to kill the vines and weeds.His corn quickly sprouted after this attempt and outstripped the weedsand vines which Robinson constantly had to hold in check by pullingand hoeing. He was rejoiced at his growing crop and went each morningto feast his eyes on the rapidly expanding leaves and ears.

  One morning as he came in sight of the little clearing he thought hesaw something disappearing in the low brush on the other side as heapproached. Alas, his labor had been in vain! A herd of wild goatshad found out the place and had utterly destroyed his crop. Robinsonsat down nearby and surveyed the ruin of his little field. "It is plain,"thought he, "I will have to fence in the field or I will never be ableto harvest my crop. I cannot watch it all the time."

  He had already learned from his experience in making the fence aroundthe goat pasture that the branches of many kinds of shrubs and trees,when broken off and thrust into the ground, will send out roots andleaves and at length if planted close together in a line, will forma thick hedge which no kind of beast can get through or over. He foundout some willow trees whose branches broke easily, and soon had enoughto thrust into the ground about six inches apart around the entireedge of his little field, which contained about one eighth of an acre.

  After this hedge had grown so as to be a fair protection to his crophe tried planting again at the proper season. He spaded up the groundand pulled out the matted roots as best he could and with great painsand care planted his corn in straight even rows. To make them straightand each hill of corn the same distance from its neighbors, he firstmarked off the ground in squares whose sides were about three and onehalf feet long.

  "Now," thought he, "I will reap the reward of my labor." The corn grewrapidly, and toward the end of the first dry season was filling outand ripening its ears. But to Robinson's dismay a new dangerthreatened his crop against which he could not fence. He was indespair. The birds were fast eating and destroying his partiallyripened corn. He could not husk it yet. It was not ripe enough. Hethought how easy it would be to protect his field if he had a gun.But he had learned that it is useless to give time to idle dreaming.He must do something and that quick.

  "If I could catch some of these rascals," he thought, "I would hangthem up on poles, dead, as a warning to the rest." It seemed almosta hopeless task, but he went about it. It was in vain he tried to killsome of them by throwing rocks and sticks. He could not get nearenough to them. At length he laid snares and succeeded in snaringthree birds. He had learned to weave a pliable, strong thong out ofcocoa and other fibre that he was now acquainted with. The birds thuscaught he fastened on broken branches of trees which he stuck intothe earth in different parts of his field. The birds heeded the warningand visited his corn field no more that season.

  At the end of the season he gathered or husked his corn and after itwas thoroughly dry he shelled it from the cob with his hands. He usedhis baskets in which to carry his husked ears from the field to hiscave and in which to store it when shelled. He found that the earswere larger and better filled and plumper than when the plants grewwild. He selected the largest and best filled ears for his seed thenext time. In this way his new crop of corn was always better in kindand yielded more than the old one.

  At first he grew two crops a year, but by experimenting he found outabout how much he needed for his own use and planted once a yearenough to give him a liberal supply.

  He observed that the wild rice grew in swampy lands, so that he didnot make the mistake of trying to raise it upon the upland where thecorn grew best. He saw at once that the planting of rice on low,marshy or wet land was beyond his present strength and tools. "Sometime in the future," he thought, "I may try it."

  Robinson also found wild grapes in abundance. These he dried byhanging them on the branches of trees. He thus had a store of raisinsfor each rainy season.

  XXX

  ROBINSON AS POTTER

  Robinson was now anxious to cook his food, to boil his rice andvegetables and bake bread, but he could do nothing without cookingvessels. He had tried to use cocoanut shells, but these were too smalland there was no way to keep them from falling over and spilling thecontents. He determined to try to make some clay vessels. He knewwhere he could get a kind of clay that had the appearance of makinggood ware. It was fine grained and without lumps or pebbles. He wasmuch perplexed to mould the clay into right shapes. He tried takinga lump and shaping it into a vessel with his hands. He tried many times,but each time the clay broke and he was forced to try some other way.He recalled how he had made his basket out of strands of twisted grassand wondered whether he could not make his pots in the same way.

  He spun the clay out into a long rope and began to coil it around asmall basket forming the layers together with his hands. This waseasy, but he did not see clearly how he was going to get the basketout from the inside of the pot. He found he could copy in this wayany form he wished, but he finally hit upon the plan of making a formof wicker work and coiling the clay rope inside it, for he saw thatwhether he succeeded or not in getting the clay free from the baskethe could use the pot, and besides if the pot would stand the fire thebasket would burn off. To dry the pots Robinson stood them in the suna few days. When they were dry he tried to cook some soup in one ofthem. He filled it with water and put it on his stove or oven, buthow sadly had he deceived himself. In a short time the water soakedinto the clay and soon the pot had fallen to pieces.

  "How foolish I am!" said Robinson to himself; "the pots have to befired before they can be used." He set about this at once. He foundtwo stones of equal size, placed them near each other and laid a thirdacross these. He then placed three large pots upon them and made ahot fire under them. No sooner had the flame shot up than one of thepots cracked in two. "I probably made the fire too hot at first," thoughtRobinson.

  He drew out some of the coals and wood, but afterwards graduallyincreased the fire again. He could not, however, get the pots hotenough to turn red He brought the dryest and hardest wood, but couldnot succeed in getting them hot enough to turn red. At length he wastired out and was compelled to give it up. When the pots were coolhe tried to boil water in one. It was no better than the sun driedone. He saw that he must provide some way to get the pots much hotterthan he could in the open air He resolved to make an oven of stoneslarge enough to take in the wood as well as the pots. It must be aboveground so that there might be plenty of draught for the fire. Withgreat labor, he pried up and carried together flat stones enough tomake an oven about four feet high with a chimney at one side. He hadput in the center a stone table on which he could place three quitelarge pots. He left an opening in one side that could be partiallyclosed by a large, flat stone.

  He worked eagerly and at the end of the second day he was ready tofire his oven. He first carried together a good quantity of dry wood,then he put in his pots and laid the wood around them. In a short timehe had a very hot fire. He kept this up all day and
until late atnight.

  The next morning he went to his oven and found his pots were abeautiful red. He drew out the fire and allowed them to cool slowly.Then he filled one with water and set it over the fire to heat it.Before many minutes the water was boiling and Robinson had anotherreason to be thankful. He wept for joy. His patient labors had broughttheir rewards. No prince could feel as happy as Robinson now. He hadovercome all difficulties. Starting with nothing but his hands, hewas now able to supply all his wants. "If I only had a companion now,"he thought, "I would have nothing further to wish as long as I stayon the island."

  SOME OF ROBINSON'S DISHES]

  XXXI

  ROBINSON AS BAKER

  Now that Robinson had fire, he determined to try to make bread. Hehad seen the servants at home make bread many times, but he had notobserved closely and knew next to nothing about the way bread is made.He knew he must in some way grind the corn into flour, but how couldhe do this? He had no mill nor any tools with which to crush the corn.

  He first tried to find a stone large and hard enough out of which hemight hollow a vessel or kind of mortar. He thought he could put thecorn into this mortar and grind it by means of another stone orpestle. It was with great difficulty that he could get a stone ofsuitable size and form. After several days' trial he at last got onecut out from some layers of rock near the shore. He made a hollowplace in it. Then he took a smaller oblong shaped rock for his pestle.