The Swiss Family Robinson - Full Audiobook : Chapter 23

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wiss, chapter twenty three.
The next morning, my wife and children besought me to
begin my manufacture of candles. I remembered having seen the
chandler at work, and I tried to recall all my
remembrances of the process. I put into a boiler as

(00:22):
many berries as it would hold, and placed it over
a moderate fire. The wax melted from the berries and
rose to the surface, and this I carefully skimmed with
a large flat spoon and put in a separate vessel
placed near the fire. When this was done, my wife
supplied me with some wicks she had made from the
threads of sailcloth. These wicks were attached for at a

(00:45):
time to a small stick. I dipped them into the
wax and placed them on two branches of a tree
to dry. I repeated this operation as often as necessary
to make them the proper thickness, and then placed them
in a cool spot to harden. But we could not
forbear trying them that very night, and though somewhat rude

(01:07):
in form it was sufficient that they reminded us of
our European home, and prolonged our days by many useful
hours we had lost before. This encouraged me to attempt
another enterprise. My wife had long regretted that she had
not been able to make butter. She had attempted to
beat her cream in a vessel, but either the heat

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of the climate or her want of patience rendered her
trials unsuccessful. I felt that I had not skill enough
to make a churn, but I fancied that by some
simple method, like that used by the Hottentots, who put
their cream in a skin and shake it till they
produced butter, we might obtain the same result. I cut

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a large gordon two, filled it with three quarts of cream,
then united the parts and secured them closely. I fastened
a stick to each corner of a square piece of sailcloth,
placed the gourd in the middle, and, giving a corner
to each of my sons, directed them to rock the
cloth with a slow, regular motion, as you would a

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child's cradle. This was quite an amusement for them, and
at the end of an hour, my wife had the
pleasure of placing before us some excellent butter. I then
tried to make a cart our sledge, being unfitted for
some roads, the wheels I had brought from the wreck
rendered this less difficult, and I completed a very rude vehicle,

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which was nevertheless very useful to us. While I was
thus usefully employed, my wife and children were not idle.
They had transplanted the European trees and thoughtfully placed each
in situation best suited to it. I assisted with my
hands and councils the vines. We planted round the roots

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of our trees, and hoped in time to form a
trellis work of the chestnut, walnut and cherry trees. We
formed an avenue from Falcon's nest to family bridge, which
we hoped would ultimately be a shady road between our
two mansions. We made a solid road between the two
rows of trees, raised in the middle and covered with sand,

(03:18):
which we brought from the shore in our wheelbarrows. I
also made a sort of tumbril, to which we harnessed
the ass to lighten this difficult labour. We then turned
our thoughts to tent house, our first abode, and which
still might form our refuge in case of danger. Nature
had not favored it, but our labour soon supplied all deficiencies.

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We planted round it every tree that requires ardent heat,
the citron pistachio, the almond, the mulberry, the Siamese orange,
of which the fruit is as large as the head
of a child, and the Indian fig with its long
prickly leaves, all had a place here. These plantations succeeding admirably,

(04:03):
we had after some time the pleasure of seeing the
dry and sandy desert converted into a shady grove rich
in flowers and fruit. As this place was the magazine
for our arms, ammunition and provisions of all sorts, we
made a sort of fortress of it, surrounding it with
a high hedge of strong, thorny trees, so that not

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only to wild beasts, but even to human enemies, it
was inaccessible. Our bridge was the only point of approach,
and we always carefully removed the first planks after crossing it.
We also placed our two cannon on a little elevation
within the enclosure, and finally we planted some cedars near

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our usual landing place, to which we might at a
future time fasten our vessels. These labors occupied us three months,
only interrupted by strict attention to the devotions and duties
of the su Sunday. I was most especially grateful to
God for the robust health we all enjoyed in the

(05:07):
midst of our employments. All went on well in our
little colony. We had an abundant and certain supply of provisions.
But our wardrobe, notwithstanding the continual repairing my wife bestowed
on it, was in a most wretched state, and we
had no means of renewing it, except by again visiting

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the wreck, which I knew still contained some chests of
clothes and bales of cloth. This decided me to make
another voyage. Besides, I was rather anxious to see the
state of the vessel. We found it in much the
same condition we had left it, except being much more
shattered by the winds and waves. We selected many useful

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things for our cargo. The bales of linen and woolen
cloth were not forgotten, some barrels of tar, and everything
portable that we could remove, doors, windows, tables, benches, locks
and bolts, all the ammunition, and even such of the
guns as we could move. In fact, we completely sacked

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the vessel, carrying off after several days labor all our booty,
with the exception of some weighty articles, amongst which were
three or four immense spoilers intended for a sugar manufactory.
These we tied to some large empty casks, which we
pitched completely over and hoped they would be able to
float in the water. When we had completed our arrangements,

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I resolved to blow up the ship. We placed a
large barrel of gunpowder in the hold, and arranging a
long match from it which would burn some hours, we
lighted it and proceeded without delay to Safety Bay to
watch the event. I proposed to my wife to sup
on a point of land where we could distinctly see

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the vessel. Just as the sun was going down, a majestic,
rolling like thunder, succeeded by a column of fire, announced
the destruction of the vessel, which it brought us from
Europe and bestowed its great riches on us. We could
not help shedding tears as we heard the last mournful

(07:17):
cry of this soul remaining bond that connected us with home.
We returned sorrowfully to tent house and felt as if
we had lost an old friend. We rose early next
morning and hastened to the shore, which we found covered
with the wreck, which, with a little exertion we found
it easy to collect. Amongst the rest were the large boilers.

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We afterwards used these to cover our barrels of gunpowder,
which we placed in a part of the rock, where
even if an explosion took place, no damage could ensue.
My wife, in assisting us with the wreck, made the
agreeable discovery that two of our ducks and one goose
had hatched each a brood, and were leading their noisy,

(08:02):
young families to the water. This reminded us of all
our poultry and domestic comfort at Falcon's Nest, and we
determined to defer for some time the rest of our
work at tent house, and to return the next day
to our shady summer home. End of chapter