University of Virginia Library

15. CHAPTER XV.

Mark and Bridget remained at the Reef a week, entirely
alone. To them the time seemed but a single day; and
so completely were they engrossed with each other, and
their present happiness, that they almost dreaded the hour
of return. Everything was visited, however, even to the
abandoned anchor, and Mark made a trip to the eastward,
carrying his wife out into the open water, in that direction.
But the ship and the crater gave Bridget the greatest happiness.
Of these she never tired, though the first gave her
the most pleasure. A ship was associated with all her
earliest impressions of Mark; on board that very ship she
had been married; and now it formed her home, temporarily,
if not permanently. Bridget had been living so long
beneath a tent, and in savage huts, that the accommodations
of the Rancocus appeared like those of a palace. They
were not inelegant even, though it was not usual, in that
period of the republic, to fit up vessels with a magnificence
little short of royal yachts, as is done at present. In the
way of convenience, however, our ship could boast of a
great deal. Her cabins were on deck, or under a poop,
and consequently enjoyed every advantage of light and air.
Beneath were store-rooms, still well supplied with many
articles of luxury, though time was beginning to make its
usual inroads on their qualities. The bread was not quite
as sound as it was once, nor did the teas retain all their
strength and flavour. But the sugar was just as sweet as

the day it was shipped, and in the coffee there was no apparent
change. Of the butter, we do not choose to say
anything. Bridget, in the prettiest manner imaginable,
declared that as soon as she could set Dido at work, the
store-rooms should be closely examined, and thoroughly
cleaned. Then the galley made such a convenient and
airy kitchen! Mark had removed the house, the awning
answering every purpose, and his wife declared that it was
a pleasure to cook a meal for him, in so pleasant a place.

The first dish Bridget ever literally cooked for Mark,
with her own hands, or indeed for any one else, was a
mess of `grass,' as it was the custom of even the most
polished people of America then to call asparagus. They
had gone together to the asparagus bed on Loam Island,
and had found the plant absolutely luxuriating in its favourite
soil. The want of butter was the greatest defect
in this mess, for, to say the truth, Bridget refused the ship's
butter on this occasion, but luckily, enough oil remained
to furnish a tolerable substitute. Mark declared he had
never tasted anything in his life half so good!

At the end of the week, the governor, as Heaton had
styled Mark, and as Bridget had begun playfully to term
him, gave the opinion that it was necessary for them to
tear themselves away from their paradise. Never before,
most certainly, had the Reef appeared to the young husband
a spot as delightful as he now found it, and it did
seem to him very possible for one to pass a whole life on
it without murmuring. His wife again and again assured
him she had never before been half as happy, and that,
much as she loved Anne and the baby, she could remain
a month longer, without being in the least wearied. But
it was prudent to return to the Peak, for Mark had never
felt his former security against foreign invasion, since he
was acquainted with the proximity of peopled islands.

The passage was prosperous, and it gave the scene an
air of civilization and life, to fall in with the Neshamony
off the cove. She was coming in from Rancocus, on her
last trip for the stores, having brought everything away
but two of the goats. These had been driven up into the
mountains, and there left. Bigelow had come away, and
the whole party of colonists were now assembled at Vulcan's

Peak. But Betts had a communication to make that
gave the governor a good deal of concern. He reported
that after they had got the pinnace loaded, and were only
waiting for the proper time of day to quit Rancocus, they
discovered a fleet of canoes and catamarans, approaching
the island from the direction of the Group, as they familiarly
termed the cluster of islands that was known to be
nearest to them, to the northward and westward. By
means of a glass, Betts had ascertained that a certain
Waally was on board the leading canoe, and he regarded
this as an evil omen. Waally was Ooroony's most formidable
rival and most bitter foe; and the circumstance that
he was leading such a flotilla, of itself, Bob thought, was
an indication that he had prevailed over honest Betto, in
some recent encounter, and was now abroad, bent on further
mischief. Indeed, it seemed scarcely possible that
men like the natives should hear of the existence of such
a mountain as that of Rancocus Island, in their vicinity,
and not wish to explore, if not to possess it.

Betts had pushed off, and made sail, as soon as assured
of this fact. He knew the pinnace could outsail anything
the islanders possessed, more especially on a wind, and he
manœuvred about the flotilla for an hour, making his observations,
before he left it. This was clearly a war party,
and Bob thought there were white men in it. At least,
he saw two individuals who appeared to him to be white
sailors, attired in a semi-savage way, and who were in the
same canoe with the terrible Waally. It was nothing out
of the way for seamen to get adrift on the islands scattered
about in the Pacific, there being scarcely a group in which
more or less of them are not to be found. The presence
of these men, too, Bob regarded as another evil omen, and
he felt the necessity of throwing all the dust he could into
their eyes. When the pinnace left the flotilla, therefore,
instead of passing out to windward of the island, as was
her true course, she steered in an almost contrary direction,
keeping off well to leeward of the land, in order not
to get becalmed under the heights, for Bob well knew the
canoes, with paddles, would soon overhaul him, should he
lose the wind.

It was the practice of our colonists to quit Rancocus

just before the sun set, and to stand all night on a south-east
course. This invariably brought them in sight of the
smoke of the volcano by morning, and shortly after they
made the Peak. All of the day that succeeded, was commonly
passed in beating up to the volcano, or as near to it
as it was thought prudent to go; and tacking to the northward
and eastward, about sunset of the second day, it was
found on the following morning, that the Neshamony was
drawing near to the cliffs of Vulcan's Peak, if she were
not already beneath them. As a matter of course, then,
Bob had not far to go, before night shut in, and left him
at liberty to steer in whatever direction he pleased. Fortunately,
that night had no moon, though there was not
much danger of so small a craft as the Neshamony being
seen at any great distance on the water, even by moonlight.
Bob consequently determined to beat up off the north end
of the island, or Low Cape, as it was named by the colonists,
from the circumstance of its having a mile or two
of low land around it, before the mountains commenced.
Once off the cape again, and reasonably well in, he might
possibly make discoveries that would be of use.

It took two or three hours to regain the lost ground, by
beating to windward. By eleven o'clock, however, the
Neshamony was not only off the cape, but quite close in
with the landing. The climate rendering fires altogether
unnecessary at that season, and indeed at nearly all seasons,
except for cooking, Bob could not trace the encampment
of the savages, by that means. Still, he obtained
all the information he desired. This was not done, however,
without great risk, and by a most daring step on his
part. He lowered the sails of the boat and went alongside
of the rock, where the pinnace usually came to, the canoes,
&c., having made another, and a less eligible harbour.
Bob then landed in person, and stole along the shore in the
direction of the sleeping savages. Unknown to himself, he
was watched, and was just crouching under some bushes,
in order to get a little nearer, when he felt a hand on his
shoulder. There was a moment when blood was in danger
of being shed, but Betts's hand was stayed by hearing, in
good English, the words—

“Where are you bound, shipmate?”

This question was asked in a guarded, under-tone, a
circumstance that reassured Bob, quite as much as the
language. He at once perceived that the two men whom
he had, rightly enough, taken for seamen, were in these
bushes, where it would seem they had long been on the
watch, observing the movements of the pinnace. They
told Bob to have no apprehensions, as all the savages were
asleep, at some little distance, and accompanied him back
to the Neshamony. Here, to the surprise and joy of all
parties, Bigelow recognised both the sailors, who had not
only been his former shipmates, but were actually his
townsmen in America, the whole three having been born
within a mile of each other. The history of these three
wanderers from home was very much alike. They had
come to the Pacific in a whaler, with a drunken captain,
and had, in succession, left the ship. Bigelow found his
way to Panama, where he was caught by the dark eyes of
Theresa, as has been related. Peters had fallen in with
Jones, in the course of his wanderings, and they had been
for the last two years among the pearl islands, undecided
what to do with themselves, when Waally ordered both to
accompany him in the present expedition. They had gathered
enough in hints given by different chiefs, to understand
that a party of Christians was to be massacred, or
enslaved, and plundered of course. They had heard of
the `canoe' that had been tabooed for twelve moons, but
were at a loss to comprehend one-half of the story, and
were left to the most anxious conjectures. They were not
permitted to pass on to the islands under the control of
Ooroony, but were jealously detained in Waally's part of
the group, and consequently had not been in a situation
to learn all the particulars of the singular party of colonists
who had gone to the southward. Thus much did
Peters relate, in substance, when a call among the savages
notified the whole of the whites of the necessity of coming
to some conclusion concerning the future. Jones and
Peters acknowledged it would not be safe to remain any
longer, though the last gave his opinion with an obvious
reluctance. As it afterwards appeared, Peters had married
an Indian wife, to whom he was much attached, and he
did not like the idea of abandoning her. There was but

a moment for reflection, however, and almost without
knowing it himself, when he found the pinnace about to
make sail in order to get off the land, he followed Jones
into her, and was half a mile from the shore before he had
time to reflect much on her he had left behind him. His
companion consoled him by telling him that an opportunity
might occur of sending a message to Petrina, as they had
named the pretty young savage, who would not fail to find
her way to Rancocus, sooner or later.

With these important accessions to his forces, Bob did
not hesitate about putting to sea, leaving Waally to make
what discoveries he might. Should the natives ascend to
the higher parts of the mountain, they could hardly fail to
see both the smoke of the volcano and the Peak, though it
would luckily not be in their power to see the Reef, or any
part of that low group of rocks. It was very possible they
might attempt to cross the passage between the two mountains,
though the circumstance that Vulcan's Peak lay so
directly to windward of Rancocus offered a very serious
obstacle to their succeeding. Had the two sailors remained
with them, they, indeed, might have taught the Indians to
overcome the winds and waves; but these very men were
of opinion, from what they had seen of the natives and of
their enterprises, that it rather exceeded their skill and
perseverance, to work their canoes a hundred miles dead
to windward, and against the sea that was usually on in
that quarter of the Pacific.

The colonists, generally, gave the two recruits a very
welcome reception. Bridget smiled when Mark suggested
that Jones, who was a well-looking lad enough, would
make a very proper husband for Joan, and that he doubted
not his being called on, in his character of magistrate, to
unite them in the course of the next six months. The
designs of the savages, however, caused the party to think
of anything but weddings, just at that moment, and a
council was held to devise a plan for their future government.
As Mark was considered the head of the colony, and
had every way the most experience, his opinion swayed
those of his companions, and all his recommendations were
adopted. There were on board the ship eight carronades,
then quite a new gun, and mounted on trucks. They

were of the bore of twelve-pounders, but light and manageable.
There was also abundance of ammunition in the
vessel's magazine, no ship coming to the Fejees to trade
without a proper regard to the armament. Mark proposed
going over to the Reef with the Neshamony, the very next
day, in order to transport two of the guns, with a proper
supply of powder and shot, to the Peak. Now there was
one place on the path, or Stairs, where it would be easy
to defend the last against an army, the rocks, which were
absolutely perpendicular on each side of it, coming so close
together, as to render it practicable to close the passage
by a narrow gate. This gate Mark did not purpose to
erect now, for he thought it unnecessary. All he intended
was to plant the two guns at this pass; one on a piece of
level rock directly over it, and a little on one side, which
would command the entrance of the cove, and the cove
itself, as well as the whole of the path beneath, and the
other on another natural platform, a short distance above,
where it could not only command the pass, but, by using
the last as a sort of embrasure, by firing through it, could
not only sweep the ravine for some distance down, but
could also rake the entrance of the cove, and quite half of
the little basin itself.

Bob greatly approved of this arrangement, though all
the seamen were too much accustomed to obey their officers
to raise the smallest objections to anything that Mark
proposed. Betts was the only person who had made the
circuit of the Peak; but he, and Mark; and Heaton, who
had been a good deal round the cliffs, on the side of the
water, all agreed in saying they did not believe it possible
for a human being to reach the plain, unless the ascent
was made by the Stairs. This, of course, rendered the
fortifying of the last a matter of so much the greater importance,
since it converted the whole island into a second
Gibraltar. It was true, the Reef would remain exposed
to depredations; though Mark was of opinion that, by
leaving a portion of their force in the ship, with two or
three of the guns at command, it would not be difficult to
beat off five hundred natives. As for the creater, it might
very easily be made impregnable.

At this meeting Heaton proposed the establishment of

some sort of government and authority, which they should
all solemnly swear to support. The idea was favourably
received, and Mark was unanimously chosen governor for
life, the law being the rule of right, with such special enactments
as might, from time to time, issue from a council
of three, who were also elected for life. This council
consisted of the governor, Heaton, and Betts. Human
society has little difficulty in establishing itself on just
principles, when the wants are few and interests simple.
It is the bias given by these last that perverts it from the
true direction. In our island community, most of its citizens
were accustomed to think that education and practice
gave a man certain claims to control, and, as yet, demagogueism
had no place with them. A few necessary rules,
that were connected with their particular situation, were
enacted by the council and promulgated, when the meeting
adjourned. Happily they were as yet far, very far from
that favourite sophism of the day, which would teach the
inexperienced to fancy it an advantage to a legislator to
commence his career as low as possible on the scale of
ignorance, in order that he might be what it is the fashion
to term “a self-made man.”

Mark now took the command, and issued his orders
with a show of authority. His attention was first turned
to rendering the Peak impregnable. There were a plenty
of muskets and fowling-pieces already there, Heaton having
come well provided with arms and ammunition. As
respects the last, Peters and Jones were set to work to
clear out a sort of cavern in the rock, that was not only
of a convenient size, but which was conveniently placed
for such a purpose, at no great distance from the head of
the Stairs, to receive the powder, &c. The cavity was
perfectly dry, an indispensable requisite, and it was equally
well protected against the admission of water.

The next thing was to collect a large pile of dry wood
on the naked height of the Peak. This was to be lighted,
at night, in the event of the canoes appearing while he
was absent, Mark being of opinion that he could see such
a beacon-fire from the Reef, whither he was about to proceed.
Having made these arrangements, the governor set
sail with Betts, Bigelow, and Socrates for his companions,

leaving Heaton, with Peters and Jones, to take care of
most of the females. We say of most, since Dido and
Juno went along, in order to cook, and to wash all the
clothes of the whole colony, a part of which were sent in
the pinnace, but most of which were on board the ship.
This was a portion of his duty, when a solitary man, to
which Mark was exceedingly averse, and having shirts almost
ad libitum, Bridget had found nearly a hundred ready
for the `buck-basket.' There was no danger, therefore,
that the `wash' would be too small.

Betts was deeply impressed with the change that he
found in the rocks. There, where he had left water over
which he had often floated his raft, appeared dry land.
Nor was he much less struck with the appearance of the
crater. It was now a hill of a bright, lively verdure, Kitty
and her new friend keeping it quite as closely cropped as
was desirable. The interior, too, struck him forcibly; for
there, in addition to the garden, now flourishing, though a
little in want of the hoe, was a meadow of acres in extent,
in which the grass was fit to cut. Mark had observed this
circumstance when last at the crater, and Socrates had
brought his scythe and forks, to cut and cure the hay.

The morning after the arrival, everybody went to work.
The women set up their tubs, under an awning spread for
that purpose, near the spring, and were soon up to their
elbows in suds. The scythe was set in motion, and the
pinnace was taken round to the ship. Three active seamen
soon hoisted out the carronades, and stowed them in
the little sloop. The ammunition followed, and half-a-dozen
barrels of the beef and pork were put in the Neshamony
also. Mark scarcely ever touched this food now,
the fish, eggs, chickens, and pigs, keeping his larder sufficiently
well supplied. But some of the men pined for
ship's provisions, beef and pork that had now been packed
more than two years, and the governor thought it might
be well enough to indulge them. The empty barrels would
be convenient on the Peak, and the salt would be acceptable,
after being dried and pulverized.

The day was passed in loading the Neshamony, and in
looking after various interests on the Reef. The hogs had
all come in, and were fed. Mark shot one, and had it

dressed, putting most of its meat into the pinnace. He
also sent Bob out to his old place of resort, near Loam
Island, whence he brought back near a hundred hog-fish.
These were divided, also, some being given to Dido's mess,
and the rest put in the pinnace, after taking out enough
for a good supper. About ten at night the Neshamony
sailed, Mark carrying her out into the open water, when
he placed Bob at the helm. Bigelow had remained in the
ship, to overhaul the lumber, of which there were still large
piles both betwixt decks and in the lower hold, as did the
whole of the Socrates family, who were yet occupied with
the hay harvest and the `wash.' Before he lay down to
catch his nap, Mark took a good look to the southward,
in quest of the beacon, but it was not burning, a sign the
savages had not appeared in the course of the day. With
this assurance he fell asleep, and slept until informed by
Bob that the pinnace was running in beneath the cliffs.
Betts called him, because the honest fellow was absolutely
at a loss to know where to find the entrance of the cove.
So closely did the rocks lap, that this mouth of the harbour
was most effectually concealed from all but those
who happened to get quite close in with the cliffs, and in
a particular position. Mark, himself, had caught a glimpse
of this narrow entrance accidentally, on his first voyage,
else might he have been obliged to abandon the hope of
getting on the heights; for subsequent examination showed
that there was but that one spot, on the whole circuit of
Vulcan's Peak, where man could ascend to the plain, without
having recourse to engineering and the labour of
months, if not of years.

Bob had brought along one of the two swivels of the
ship, as an armament for the Neshamony, and he fired it
under the cliffs, as a signal of her return. This brought
down all the men, who, with their united strength, dragged
the carronades up the Stairs, and placed them in position.
With a view to scale the guns, the governor now had each
loaded, with a round shot and a case of canister. The
gun just above the pass, he pointed himself, at the entrance
of the cove, and touched it off. The whole of the missiles
went into the passage, making the water fairly foam again.
The other gun was depressed so as to sweep the Stairs,

and, on examination, it was found that its shot had raked
the path most effectually for a distance exceeding a hundred
yards. Small magazines were made in the rocks,
near each gun, when the most important part of the arrangements
for defence were considered to be satisfactorily
made for the present. The remainder of the cargo was
discharged, and got up the mountain, though it took three
days to effect the last. The provisions were opened below
and overhauled, quite one-half of the pork being consigned
to the soap-fat, though the beef proved to be still
sound and sweet. Such as was thought fit to be consumed
was carried up in baskets, and re-packed on the mountain,
the labour of rolling up the barrels satisfying everybody,
after one experiment. This difficulty set Mark to work
with his wits, and he found a shelf that overhung the landing,
at a height of fully a hundred yards above it, where
there was a natural platform of rock, that would suffice for
the parade of a regiment of men. Here he determined to
rig a derrick, for there was an easy ascent and descent to
this `platform,' as the place was called, and down which a
cart might go without any difficulty, if a cart was to be
had. The `platform' might also be used for musketeers,
in an action, and on examining it, Mark determined to
bring over one of the two long sixes, and mount it there,
with a view to command the offing. From that height a
shot could be thrown in any direction, for more than a
mile, outside of the harbour.

Heaton had seen no signs of the canoes, nor could Mark,
at any time during the next four days after his return,
though he was each day on the Peak itself, to examine the
ocean. On the fifth day, therefore, he and Bob crossed
over to the Reef again, taking Bridget along this time.
The latter delighted in the ship, the cabins of which were
so much more agreeable and comfortable than the tents,
and which had so long been her husband's solitary abode.

On reaching the Reef, the governor was greatly surprised
to find that Bigelow had the frame of a boat even
larger than the pinnace set up, one that measured fourteen
tons, though modelled to carry, rather than to sail. In
overhauling the `stuff' in the ship, he had found not only
all the materials for this craft, but those necessary for a
boat a little larger than the Bridget, which, it seems, had

been sent for the ordinary service of the ship, should anything
occur to occasion the loss of the two she commonly
used, in addition to the dingui. These were treasures,
indeed, vessels of this size being of the utmost use to the
colonists. For the next month, several hands were kept
at work on these two boats, when both were got into the
water, rigged, and turned over for duty. The largest boat
of the little fleet, which had no deck at all, not even forward,
and which was not only lighter-built but lighter-rigged,
having one large sprit-sail that brailed, was called the
Mary, in honour of Heaton's mother; while the jolly-boat
carried joy to the hearts of the house of Socrates, by being
named the Dido. As she was painted black as a crow,
this appellation was not altogether inappropriate, Soc declaring,
“dat 'e boat did a good deal favour his ole woman.”

While these things were in progress, the Neshamony
was not idle. She made six voyages between the Reef
and the Peak in that month, carrying to the last, fish, fresh
pork, various necessaries from the ship, as well as eggs and
salt. Some of the fowls were caught and transferred to
the Peak, as well as half-a-dozen of the porkers. The
return cargo consisted of reed-birds, in large quantities,
several other varieties of birds, bread-fruits, bananas, yams,
cocoa-nuts, and a fruit that Heaton discovered, which was of
a most delicious flavour, resembling strawberries and cream,
and which was afterwards ascertained to be the charramoya,
the fluit that, of all others, when good, is thought
to surpass everything else of that nature. Bridget also
picked a basket of famously large wild strawberries on the
Summit, and sent them to Anne. In return, Anne sent
her sister, not only cream and milk, by each passage, but
a little fresh butter. I'he calves had been weaned, and
the two cows were now giving their largest quantity of
milk, furnishing almost as much butter as was wanted.

At the crater, Socrates put everything in order. He
mowed the grass, and made a neat stack of it, in the centre
of the meadow. He cleamed the garden thoroughly, and
made some arrangements for enlarging it, though the yield,
now, was quite as great as all the colonists could consume;
for, no sooner was one vegetable dug, or cut, than another
was put in its place. On the Peak, Peters, who was half
a farmer, dug over an acre or two of rich loam, and made

a fence of brush, with a view of having a garden in Eden.
Really, it almost seemed superfluous; though those who
had been accustomed to salads, and beans, and beets, and
onions, and cucumbers, and all the other common vegetables
of a civilized kitchen, soon began to weary of the
more luscious fruits of the tropics. With the wild figs,
however, Heaton, who was a capital horticulturist, fancied
he could do something. He picked out three or four
thriving young trees of that class, which bore fruit a little
better flavoured than most around them, and cut away all
their neighbours, letting in the sun and air freely. He
also trimmed their branches, and dug around the roots,
which he refreshed with guano; the use of which had been
imparted by Mark to his fellow-colonists, though Bigelow
knew all about it from having lived in Peru, and Bob had
early let the governor himself into the secret.

The governor and his lady, as the community now began
to term Mr. and Mrs. Mark Woolston, were on the point
of embarking in the Neshamony, to visit Vulcan's Peak,
after a residence on the Reef of more than a month, when
the orders for sailing were countermanded, in consequence
of certain signs in the atmosphere, which indicated something
like another hurricane. The tempest came, and in
good earnest, but without any of the disastrous consequences
which had attended that of the previous year. It
blew fearfully, and the water was driven into all the sounds,
creeks, channels and bays of the group, bringing many of
the islands, isthmuses, peninsulas, and plains of rock, what
the seamen call `awash,' though no material portion was
actually overflowed. At the Reef itself, the water rose
a fathom, but it did not reach the surface of the island by
several feet, and all passed off without any other consequences
than giving the new colonists a taste of the climate.

Mark, on this occasion, for the first time, noted a change
that was gradually taking place on the surface of the Reef,
without the crater. Most of its cavities were collecting
deposits, that were derived from various sources. Sea-weed,
offals, refuse stuff of all kinds, the remains of the
deluge of fish that occurred the past year, and all the indescribable
atoms that ever contribute to form soil in the

neighbourhood of man. There were many spots on the
Reef, of acres in extent, that formed shallow basins, in
which the surface might be two or three inches lower than
the surrounding rocks, and, in these spots in particular,
the accumulations of an incipient earthy matter were
plainly visible. As these cavities collected and retained
the moisture, usually from rain to rain, Mark had some of
Friend Abraham White's grass-seed sown over them, in
order to aid nature in working out her own benevolent designs.
In less than a month, patches of green began to
appear on the dusky rocks, and there was good reason to
hope that a few years would convert the whole Reef into
a smiling, verdant plain. It was true, the soil could not
soon obtain any useful depth, except in limited spots; but,
in that climate, where warmth and moisture united to push
vegetation to the utmost, it was an easy thing to obtain a
bottom for grasses of almost all kinds.

Nor did Mark's provident care limit itself to this one instance
of forethought. Socrates was sent in the dingui to
the prairie, over which the hogs had now been rooting for
fully two months, mixing together mud and sea-weed,
somewhat loosely it is true, but very extensively; and there
he scattered Timothy-seed in tolerable profusion. Socrates
was a long-headed, as well as a long-footed fellow, and he
brought back from this expedition a report that was of
material importance to the future husbandry of the colonists.
According to his statement, this large deposit of
mud and sea-weed lay on a peninsula, that might be barricaded
against the inroads of hogs, cattle, &c., by a fence
of some two or three rods in length. This was a very favourable
circumstance, where wood was to be imported
for many years to come, if not for ever; though the black
had brought the seeds of certain timbers, from the Peak,
and put them into the ground in a hundred places on the
Reef, where the depth of deposit, and other circumstances,
seemed favourable to their growth. As for the Prairie,
could it be made to grow grasses, it would be a treasure
to the colony, inasmuch as its extent reached fully to a
thousand acres. The examination of Socrates was flattering
in other respects. The mud was already dry, and the
deposit of salt did not seem to be very great, little water
having been left there after the eruption, or lifting of the

earth's crust. The rains had done much, and certain
coarse, natural grasses, were beginning to show themselves
in various parts of the field. As the hogs would not be
likely to root over the same spot twice, it was not proposed
to exclude them, but they were permitted to range over
the field at pleasure, in the hope that they would add to its
fertility by mixing the materials for soil. In such a climate,
every change of a vegetable character was extremely
rapid, and now that no one thought of abandoning the settlement,
it was very desirable to obtain the different benefits
of civilization as soon as possible.

All the blacks remained at the Reef, where Mark himself
passed a good deal of his time. In their next visit to
the Peak, they found things flourishing, and the garden
looking particularly well. The Vulcanists had their melons
in any quantity, as well as most vegetables without limits.
It was determined to divide the cows, leaving one on the
Peak, and sending the other to the crater, where there was
now sufficient grass to keep two or three such animals.
With a view to this arrangement, Bob had been directed
to fence in the garden and stack, by means of ropes and
stanchions let into the ground. When the Anne returned
to the Reef, therefore, from her first voyage to the Peak,
a cow was sent over in her. This change was made solely
for the convenience of the milk, all the rest of the large
stock being retained on the plain, where there was sufficient
grass to sustain thousands of hoofs.

But the return cargo of the Anne, on this her first voyage,
was composed mainly of ship-timber. Heaton had
found a variety of the teak in the forests that skirted the
plain, and Bigelow had got out of the trees the frame of a
schooner that was intended to measure about eighty tons.
A craft of that size would be of the greatest service to
them, as it would enable the colonists to visit any part of
the Pacific they pleased, and obtain such supplies as they
might find necessary. Nor was this all; by mounting on
her two of the carronades, she would effectually give them
the command of their own seas, so far as the natives were
concerned at least. Mark had some books on the draughting
of vessels, and Bigelow had once before laid down a
brig of more than a hundred tons in dimensions. Then
the stores, rigging, copper, &c., of the ship, could never

be turned to better account than in the construction of
another vessel, and it was believed she could furnish materials
enough for two or three such craft. Out of compliment
to his old owner, Mark named this schooner in embryo,
the `Friend Abraham White,' though she was commonly
known afterwards as the `Abraham.'

The cutting of the frame of the intended schooner was
a thing easy enough, with expert American axemen, and
with that glorious implement of civilization, the American
axe. But it was not quite so easy to get the timber down
to the cove. The keel, in particular, gave a good deal of
trouble. Heaton had brought along with him both cart
and wagon wheels, and without that it is questionable if
the stick could have been moved by any force then at the
command of the colony. By suspending it in chains beneath
the axles, however, it was found possible to draw it,
though several of the women had to lend their aid in moving
the mass. When at the head of the Stairs, the timber
was lowered on the rock, and was slid downwards, with
occasional lifts by the crowbar and handspike. When it
reached the water it was found to be much too heavy to
float, and it was by no means an easy matter to buoy it
up in such a way that it might be towed. The Anne was
three times as long making her passage with this keel in
tow, as she was without it. It was done, however, and
the laying of the keel was effected with some little ceremony,
in the presence of nearly every soul belonging to
the colony.

The getting out and raising of the frame of the `Friend
Abraham White' took six weeks. Great importance was
attached to success in this matter, and everybody assisted
in the work with right good will. At one time it was
doubted if stuff enough could be found in the ship to plank
her up with, and it was thought it might become necessary
to break up the Rancocus, in order to complete the job.
To Bridget's great joy, however, the good old Rancocus—
so they called her, though she was even then only eight
years old—the good old Rancocus' time had not yet come,
and she was able to live in her cabin for some months
longer. Enough planks were found by using those of the
'twixt decks, a part of which were not bolted down at all,
to accomplish all that was wanted.

Heaton was a man of singular tastes, which led him to
as remarkable acquirements. Among other accomplishments,
he was a very good general mechanician, having an
idea of the manner in which most of the ordinary machinery
ought to be, not only used, but fabricated. At
the point where the rivulet descended the cliff into the
sea, he discovered as noble a mill-seat as the heart of man
could desire to possess. To have such a mill-seat at command,
and not to use it, would, of itself, have made him
unhappy, and he could not be easy until he and Peters,
who had also a great taste and some skill in that sort of
thing, were hard at work building a saw-mill. The saw
had been brought from America, as a thing very likely to
be wanted, and three months after these two ingenious
men had commenced their work, the saw was going, cutting
teak, as well as a species of excellent yellow pine that
was found in considerable quantities, and of very respectable
size, along the cliffs in the immediate vicinity of the
mill. The great difficulty to be overcome in that undertaking,
was the transportation of the timber. By cutting
the trees most favourably situated first, logs were got into
the pond without much labour; but after they were in
planks, or boards, or joists, they were quite seven miles
from the head of the Stairs, in the vicinity of which it
was, on several accounts, the most desirable to dwell.
Had the Abraham been kept on the stocks, until the necessary
timber was brought from the mill, across the plain
of Eden, she would have been well seasoned before launching;
but, fortunately, that was not necessary—materials
sufficient for her were got on board the ship, as mentioned,
with some small additions of inch boards that were cut to
finish her joiners' work.

Months passed, as a matter of course, while the schooner
and the mill were in the course of construction. The
work on the first was frequently intermitted, by little voyages
in the other craft, and by labour necessary to be done
in preparing dwellings on the Peak, to meet the rainy season,
which was now again near at hand. Past experience
had told Mark that the winter months in his islands, if
winter a season could be termed, during which most of the
trees, all the grasses, and many of the fruits continued to

grow and ripen as in summer, were not very formidable.
It is true it then rained nearly every day, but it was very
far from raining all day. Most of the rain, in fact, fell at
night, commencing a little after the turn in the day, and
terminating about midnight. Still it must be very unpleasant
to pass such a season beneath canvass, and, about six
weeks ere the wet time commenced, everybody turned to,
with a will, to erect proper framed houses. Now that the
mill was sawing, this was no great task, the pine working
beautifully and easily into almost every article required.

Heaton laid out his house with some attention to taste,
and more to comfort. It was of one story, but fully a
hundred feet in length, and of half that in depth. Being
a common American dwelling that was clap-boarded, it
was soon put up and enclosed, the climate requiring very
little attention to warmth. There were windows, and
even glass, a small quantity of that article having been
brought along by the colonists. The floors were beautiful,
and extremely well laid down; nor were the doors, window-shutters,
&c., neglected. The whole, moreover, was
painted, the stores of the ship still furnishing the necessary
materials. But there was neither chimney nor plastering,
for Heaton had neither bricks nor lime. Bricks
he insisted he could and would make, and did, though in
no great number; but lime, for some time, baffled his ingenuity.
At last, Socrates suggested the burning of oyster-shells,
and by dint of fishing a good deal, among the channels
of the reef, a noble oyster-bed was found, and the
boats brought in enough of the shells to furnish as much
lime as would put up a chimney for the kitchen; one
apartment for that sort of work being made, as yet, to
suffice for the wants of all who dwelt in Eden.

These various occupations and interests consumed
many months, and carried the new-comers through the
first wet season which they encountered as a colony. As
everybody was busy, plenty reigned, and the climate being
so very delicious as to produce a sense of enjoyment in
the very fact of existence, everybody but Peters was happy.
He, poor fellow, mourned much for his Peggy, as he called
the pretty young heathen wife he had left behind him in
Waally's country.