Swiss Family Robinson(fiscle part-3 of 2) - Johann David Wyss (desktop ebook reader .TXT) 📗

Of The Cave;

Therefore All Available Casks And Barrels Were Pressed into The

Service; Many,  Of Course,  Once Full Of Pickled herrings,  Potted pigeons

And Other Winter Stores,  Were Now Empty,  And We Took A Goodly Fleet Of

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These In tow.

 

Knives,  Hatchets,  And The Boys' Climbing buskins,  Were Put On Board,

And We Set Forth,  The Labour Of The Oar Being greater Than Ever,  Now

That Our Freight Was So Much Increased.

 

The Sea Being calm,  And The Tide Suiting better,  We Found It Easy To

Land Close To The Whale; My First Care Was To Place The Boat,  As Well

As The Casks,  In perfect Security,  After Which We Proceeded to A Close

Inspection Of Our Prize.

 

Its Enormous Size Quite Startled my Wife And Little Boy; The Length

Being from Sixty To Sixty-Five Feet,  And The Girth Between Thirty And

Forty,  While The Weight Could Not Have Been Less Than 50,000 Lbs.

 

The Color Was A Uniform Velvety Black,  And The Enormous Head About

One-Third Of The Length Of The Entire Hulk,  The Eyes Quite Small,  Not

Much Larger Than Those Of An Ox,  And The Ears Almost Undiscernable.

 

The Jaw Opened very Far Back,  And Was Nearly Sixteen Feet In length,

The Most Curious Part Of Its Structure Being the Remarkable Substance

Known As Whalebone,  Masses Of Which Appeared all Along The Jaws,  Solid

At The Base,  And Splitting into A Sort Of Fringe At The Extremity. This

Arrangement Is For The Purpose Of Aiding the Whale In procuring its

Food,  And Separating it From The Water.

 

The Tongue Was Remarkably Large,  Soft,  And Full Of Oil; The Opening of

The Throat Wonderfully Small,  Scarcely Two Inches In diameter.

 

`Why,  What Can The Monster Eat?' Exclaimed fritz; `He Can Never

Swallow A Proper Mouthful Down This Little Gullet!'

 

`The Mode Of Feeding adopted by The Whale Is So Curious,' I Replied,

`That I Must Explain It To You Before We Begin Work.

 

`This Animal (For I Should Tell You That A Whale Is Not A Fish; He

Possess No Gills,  He Breathes Atmospheric Air,  And Would Be Drowned if

Too Long Detained below The Surface Of The Water); This Animal,  Then,

Frequents Those Parts Of The Ocean Best Supplied with The Various

Creatures On Which He Feeds. Shrimps,  Small Fish,  Lobsters,  Various

Molluscs,  And Medusae Form His Diet.

 

`Driving with Open Mouth Through The Congregated shoals Of These

Little Creatures,  The Whale Engulfs Them By Millions In his Enormous

Jaws,  And Continues His Destructive Course Until He Has Sufficiently

Charged his Mouth With Prey.

 

`Closing his Jaws And Forcing out,  Through The Interstices Of The

Whalebone,  The Water Which He Has Taken With His Prey,  He Retains The

Captured animals,  And Swallows Them At His Leisure.

 

`The Nostrils,  Or Blow-Holes,  Are Placed,  You See,  On The Upper Part Of

The Head,  In order That The Whale May Rise To Breathe,  And Repose On

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The Surface Of The Sea,  Showing very Little Of His Huge Carcase.

 

`The Breathings Are Called "Spoutings," Because A Column Of Mixed

Vapor And Water Is Thrown From The Blow-Holes,  Sometimes To A Height Of

Twenty Feet.

 

`And Now,  Boys,' Cried i,  `Fasten On Your Buskins,  And Let Me See If

You Can Face The Work Of Climbing this Slippery Mountain Of Flesh,  And

Cutting it Up.'

 

Fritz And Jack Stripped,  And Went To Work Directly,  Scrambling over The

Back To The Head,  Where They Assisted me To Cut Away The Lips,  So As To

Reach The Whale Bone,  A Large Quantity Of Which Was Detached and

Carried to The Boat.

 

Ernest Laboured manfully At The Creature'S Side,  Cutting out Slabs Of

Blubber,  While His Mother And Franz Helped as Well As They Could To Put

It In casks.

 

Presently We Had A Multitude Of Unbidden Guests. The Air Was Filled by

The Shrill Screams And Hoarse Croaks And Cries Of Numbers Of Birds Of

Prey; They Flew Around Us In ever Narrowing circles,  And Becoming

Bolder As Their Voracity Was Excited by The Near View Of The Tempting

Prey,  They Alighted close To Us,  Snatching morsels Greedily From Under

The Very Strokes Of Our Knives And Hatchets.

 

Our Work Was Seriously Interrupted by These Feathered marauders,  Who,

After All,  Were No Greater Robbers Than We Ourselves. We Kept Them Off

As Well As We Could By Blows From Our Tools,  And Several Were Killed,

My Wife Taking possession Of Them Immediately For The Sake Of The

Feathers.

 

It Was Nearly Time To Leave The Island,  But First I Stripped off A Long

Piece Of The Skin,  To Be Used for Traces,  Harness,  And Other

Leather-Work. It Was About Three-Quarters Of An Inch Thick,  And Very

Soft And Oily--But I Knew It Would Shrink And Be Tough And Durable.

 

I Also Took A Part Of The Gums In which The Roots Of The Baleen Or

Whalebone Was Still Embedded,  Having read That This Is Considered quite

A Delicacy,  As Well As The Skin,  Which,  When Properly Dressed and Cut

In Little Cubes,  Like Black Dice,  Has Been Compared,  By Enthusiastic

(And Probably Very Hungry) Travellers,  To Cocoanut And Cream-Cheese.

 

The Boys Thought The Tongue Might Prove Equally Palatable,  But I

Valued it Only On Account Of The Large Quantity Of Oil It Contained.

 

With A Heavy Freight We Put To Sea,  And Made What Haste We Could To

Reach Home And Cleanse Our Persons From The Unpleasant Traces Of The

Disgusting work In which We Had Spent The Day.

 

Next Morning we Started at Dawn. My Wife And Franz Were Left Behind,

For Our Proposed work Was Even More Horrible Than That Of The Preceding

Day; They Could Not Assist,  And Had No Inclination To Witness It.

 

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It Was My Intention To Open The Carcase Completely,  And,  Penetrating

The Interior,  To Obtain Various Portions Of The Intestines,  Thinking

That It Would Be Possible To Convert The Larger Ones Into Vessels Fit

For Holding the Oil.

 

This Time We Laid Aside Our Clothes And Wore Only Strong Canvas

Trousers When We Commenced operations,  Which Were Vigorously Carried on

During the Whole Of The Day; Then,  Satisfied that We Could Do So With A

Clear Conscience,  We Abandoned the Remains To The Birds Of Prey,  And,

With A Full Cargo,  Set Sail For Land.

 

On The Way,  It Appeared to Strike The Boys (Who Had Made Not The

Slightest Objection To The Singularly Unpleasant Task I Had Set Them)

As Very Strange That I Should Wish To Possess What They Had Been

Working so Hard To Procure For Me.

 

`What Can Have Made You Wish To Bring away That Brute'S Entrails,

Father? Are They Of Any Use?'

 

`There Are Countries,' I Replied,  `Where No Wood Grows Of Which To Make

Barrels,  And No Hemp For Thread,  String and Cordage. Necessity,  The

Mother Of All The More Valuable Inventions,  Has Taught The Inhabitants

Of Those Countries,  Greenlanders,  Esquimaux And Others,  To Think Of

Substitutes,  And They Use The Intestines Of The Whale For One Purpose,

The Sinews And Nerves For The Other.'

 

We Were Right Glad To Land,  And Get Rid,  For The Present,  Of Our

Unpleasant Materials,  The Further Preparation Of Which Was Work In

Store For The Following day.

 

A Refreshing bath,  Clean Clothes,  And Supper,  Cheered us All Up,  And We

Slept In peace.

 

 

 

 

Part 3 Chapter 3 Pg 43

 

`Now For The Finishing up Of This Dirty Job,' Cried i,  Merrily,  As We

All Woke Up Next Morning at Daybreak. And After The Regular Work Was

Done,  We Commenced operations By Raising a Stand Or Rough Scaffold On

Which The Tubs Full Of Blubber Were Placed and Heavily Pressed,  So That

The Purest And Finest Oil Overflowed into Vessels Underneath.

 

The Blubber Was Afterwards Boiled in a Cauldron Over A Fire Kindled at

Some Distance From Our Abode,  And By Skimming and Straining through A

Coarse Cloth,  We Succeeded in obtaining a Large Supply Of Excellent

Train Oil,  Which,  In casks And Bags Made Of The Intestines,  Was Safely

Stowed away In the `Cellar',  As The Children Called our Roughest

Store-Room.

 

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This Day'S Work Was Far From Agreeable,  And The Dreadful Smell

Oppressed us All,  More Especially My Poor Wife,  Who,  Nevertheless,

Endured it With Her Accustomed good Temper. However,  She Very Urgently

Recommended that The New Island Should Be The Headquarters For Another

Colony,  Where,  Said She,  `Any Animals We Leave Would Be Safe From Apes

And Other Plunderers,  And Where You Would Find It So Very Convenient To

Boil Whale-Blubber,  Strain Train Oil,  And The Like'.

 

This Proposal Met With Hearty Approval,  Especially From The Boys,  Who

Were Always Charmed with Any New Plan; And They Were Eager To Act Upon

It At Once. But When I Reminded them Of The Putrefying carcase Which

Lay There,  They Confessed it Would Be Better To Allow Wind And Storms,

Birds And Insects To Do Their Work In purging the Atmosphere,  And

Reducing the Whale