The Swiss Family Robinson - Full Audiobook : Chapter 19

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wiss, chapter nineteen.
I rose before daylight, and, leaving my family sleeping, descended
to go to the shore to look after my vessels.
I found all the animals moving. The dogs leaped about me,
the cocks were crowing, the goats browsing on the dewy grass.

(00:25):
The ass alone was sleeping, and as he was the
assistant I wanted, I was compelled to rouse him a
preference which did not appear to flatter him. Nevertheless, I
harnessed him to the sledge, and, followed by the dogs,
went forward to the coast, where I found my boat
and raft safe at anchor. I took up a moderate

(00:46):
load and came home to breakfast, but found all still
as I left them. I called my family and they
sprung up. Ashamed of their sloth. My wife declared it
must have been the good mattress that had charmed her.
I gave my boys a short admonition for their sloth.
We then came down to a hasty breakfast and returned

(01:06):
to the coast to finish the unloading of the boats,
that I might at high water take them round to
moor at the usual place in the Bay of Safety.
I sent my wife up with the last load, while
Fritz and I embarked, and seeing Jack watching us, I
consented that he should form one of the crew, for
I had determined to make another visit to the wreck

(01:26):
before I moored my craft. When we reached the vessel,
the day was so far advanced that we only had
time to collect hastily anything easy to embark. My sons
ran over the ship. Jack came trundling a wheelbarrow, which
he said would be excellent for fetching the potatoes in.
But Fritz brought me good news. He had found between

(01:48):
decks a beautiful pinnace, a small vessel of which the
prow is square, taken to pieces, with all its fittings,
and even two small guns. I saw that all the
pieces were numbered and placed in order. Nothing was wanting.
I felt the importance of this acquisition, But it would
take days of labor to put it together, and then

(02:11):
how could we launch it? At present? I felt I
must renounce the undertaking. I returned to my loading. It
consisted of all sorts of utensils, a copper boiler, some
plates of iron, tobacco graters, two grindstones, a barrel of powder,
and one of flints. Jack did not forget his wheelbarrow,

(02:31):
and we found two more, which we added to our cargo,
and then sailed off speedily to avoid the land wind
which rises in the evening. As we drew near, we
were astonished to see a row of little creatures standing
on the shore, apparently regarding us with much curiosity. They
were dressed in black, with white waistcoats and thick cravats.

(02:54):
Their arms hung down carelessly, but from time to time
they raised them as if they wished to bestow on
us a fort time embrace. I believe, said I, laughing.
This must be the country of pigmies, and they are
coming to welcome us. They are the Lilypusians, father, said Jack.
I've read of them, but I thought they had been

(03:14):
less as if Gulliher's travels were true, said Fritz, in
a tone of derision. Then there are no pigmies, ask
he No, my dear boy, said I. All these stories
are either the invention or the mistakes of ancient navigators
who have taken troops of monkeys for men, or who

(03:34):
have wished to repeat something marvelous. But the romance of
Gullipher is an allegory intended to convey great truths. And now,
said Fritz, I begin to see our pigmies have beaks
and wings. You're right, said I. They are penguins, as
Ernest explained to us sometime. Since they are good swimmers

(03:56):
but unable to fly, are very helpless on land. I
steered gently to the shore that I might not disturb them.
But Jack leaped into the water, up to his knees, and,
dashing among the penguins with a stick, struck right and left,
knocking down half a dozen of the poor stupid birds
before they were aware. Some of these we brought away alive.

(04:17):
The rest, not liking such a reception, took to the
water and were soon out of sight. I scolded Jack
for his useless rashness, for the flesh of the penguin
is by no means a delicacy. We now filled our
three wheelbarrows with such things as we could carry, not
forgetting the sheets of iron and the graters, and trudged home.

(04:39):
Our dogs announced our approach, and all rushed out to
greet us. A curious and merry examination commenced. They laughed
at my graters, but I let them laugh, for I
had a project in my head. The penguins I intended
for our poultry yard, and for the present I ordered
the boys to tie each of them by a leg
to one of our geese or ducks, who opposed the

(05:02):
bondage very clamorously, but necessity made them submissive. My wife
showed me a large store of potatoes and manioc roots,
which she and her children had dug up the evening before.
We then went to supper and talked of all we
had seen in the vessel, especially of the pinnace which
we had been obliged to leave. My wife did not

(05:24):
feel much regret on this account, as she dreaded maritime expeditions,
though she agreed she might have felt less uneasiness if
we had had a vessel of this description. I gave
my sons a charge to rise early next morning, as
we had an important business on hand, and curiosity roused
them all in very good time after our usual preparations

(05:48):
for the day. I addressed them thus, gentlemen, I am
going to teach you all a new business, that of
a baker. Give me the plates of iron and the
graters we brought yesterday. My wife was astonished, But I
requested her to wait patiently, and she should have bread,
not perhaps light buns, but eatable flat cakes. But first

(06:11):
she was to make me two small bags of sailcloth.
She obeyed me, but at the same time I observed
she put the potatoes on the fire, a proof she
had not much faith in my bread making. I then
spread a cloth over the ground, and giving each of
the boys a greater we began to grate the carefully
washed Manioc roots, resting the end on the cloth. In

(06:35):
a short time we had a heap of what appeared
to be moist white sawdust, certainly not tempting to the appetite.
But the little workmen were amused with their labor and
jested know little about the cakes made of scraped radishes.
Laugh Now, boys, said I, we shall see after a while.
But you earnest ought to know that mannioc is one

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of the most precious of alimentary roots, forming the principal
sustenance of many nations of America, and often preferred by
Europeans who inhabit those countries to wheaten bread. When all
the roots were grated, I filled the two bags closely
with the pollard and my wife sewed the ends up firmly.

(07:18):
It was now necessary to apply strong pressure to extract
the juice from the root, As this juice is a
deadly poison. I selected an oak beam, one end of
which we fixed between the roots of our tree. Beneath this,
I placed our bags on a row of little blocks
of wood. I then took a large bough, which I

(07:40):
had cut from a tree and prepared for the purpose,
and laid it across them. We all united then in
drawing down the opposite end of the plank over the bow,
till we got it to a certain point. When we
suspended to it the heaviest substances. We possessed hammers, bars
of iron, and masses of leafs. This acting upon the

(08:02):
manioc the sap burst through the cloth and flowed on
the ground copiously. When I thought the pressure was complete,
we relieved the bags from the lever, and, opening one,
drew out a handful of the pollard, still rather moist,
resembling coarse maize flour. It only wants a little heat
to complete our success, said I, in great delight. I

(08:26):
ordered a fire to be lighted, and fixing one of
our iron plates, which was round in form and rather
concave on two stones placed on each side of the fire.
I covered it with a flour, which we took from
the bag with a small wooden shovel. It soon formed
a solid cake, which we turned that it might be
equally baked. It smelled so good that we all wished

(08:50):
to commence eating immediately, and I had some difficulty in
convincing them that this was only a trial, and that
our baking was still imperfect. Besides, as I had told
them that there were three kinds of manioc, of which
one contained more poison than the rest, I thought it
prudent to try whether we had perfectly extracted it by

(09:11):
giving a small quantity to our fowls. As soon therefore,
as the cake was cold, I gave some to two chickens,
which I kept apart, and also some to master nips
the monkey, that he might for the first time do
us a little service. He ate it with so much
relish and such grimaces of enjoyment, that my young party

(09:33):
were quite anxious to share his feast, but I ordered
them to wait till we could judge of the effect,
and leaving our employment, we went to our dinner of
potatoes to which my wife had added one of the penguins,
which was truly rather tough and fishy. But as Jack
would not allow this and declared it was a dish
fit for a king, we allowed him to regale on

(09:56):
it as much as he liked dinner. I talked to
them of the various preparations made from the manioc. I
told my wife we could obtain an excellent starch from
the expressed juice, but this did not interest her much,
as at present she usually wore the dress of a
sailor for convenience, and had neither caps nor collars to starch.

(10:20):
The cake made from the root is called by the
natives of the Antilles cassava, and in no savage nation
do we find any words signifying bread, an article of food.
Unknown to them. We spoke of poisons, and I explained
to my sons the different nature and effects of them. Especially,

(10:41):
I warned them against the men canel, which ought to
grow in this part of the world. I described the
fruit to them as resembling a tempting yellow apple with
red spots, which is one of the most deadly poisons.
It is said that even to sleep under the tree
is dangerous I forbade them to taste any unknown fruit,

(11:02):
and they promised to obey me. On leaving the table,
we went to visit the victims of our experiment. Jack
whistled for nips, who came in three bounds from the
summit of a high tree, where he had doubtless been
plundering some nest. And his vivacity and the peaceful cackling
of the fowls assured us our preparation was harmless. Now, gentlemen,

(11:26):
said I, laughing, to the bake house, and let us
see what we can do. I wished them each to
try to make the cakes. They immediately kindled the fire
and heated the iron plate. In the meantime, I broke
up a grated cassava and mixed it with a little milk,
and giving each of them a cocoanut basin filled with

(11:46):
the paste, I showed them how to pour it with
a spoon upon the plate and spread it about. When
the paste began to puff up, I judged it was
baked on one side, and turned it like a pancake
with a fork. And after a little time we had
a quantity of nice yellow biscuits, which, with a jug
of milk, made us a delicious collation, and determined us

(12:10):
without delay to set about cultivating the manioc. The rest
of the day was employed in bringing up the remainder
of our cargo, by means of the sledge and the
useful wheelbarrows. End of chapter