Part 18 (1/2)

We at once built two kilns for drying fish and flesh, to a.s.sist the preserving powers of the hot sun. Several large periecus were caught, cut up, and dried in the sun, and then smoked; but though wholesome and nutritious, they were not considered very palatable. As fruits and nuts became ripe they were gathered in large quant.i.ties, and Marian exerted her skill in drying the former.

”If I had some sugar, I would make a supply of preserves,” she observed, as she examined a basket of palm-fruit, and several varieties of plums, which we had brought in. ”I often a.s.sisted at home, and know perfectly well how to manage.”

I remembered one day having seen some long canes, which I took for ordinary reeds, growing among the abundant vegetation. I now tried to recollect whereabouts they were.

”I know,” exclaimed Sambo. ”They be wild sugar-cane.”

”How do you know that?” I asked.

”Because I suck 'em, and dey berry sweet,” he answered, grinning as only a well-satisfied negro can grin, having, of all the human race, a mouth specially adapted for the purpose.

”Then do you think you could find them again, Sambo?” I asked.

”Oh yes, ma.s.sa! I will bring home enough to make sugar for all the preserves Miss Marian can make.”

”But when we have cut the canes, how is the sugar to be manufactured?”

I inquired.

”I do dat,” he answered. ”I 'long on sugar plantation in Jamaica, and know how to make sugar as well as any n.i.g.g.e.r slave.”

Sambo at once set out, and soon brought back a load of sugar-canes--a convincing proof that they grew in the neighbourhood. We all tried them; and for several days each member of our community was to be seen walking about with a piece of sugar-cane in his mouth. Sambo was an ingenious mechanic, and forthwith set to work to construct a sugar manufactory. It was very simple, consisting of a number of our largest clay pots for boiling the juice, and a long trough with sides, and a board at each end, slightly inclining towards the pans. Into the trough fitted a huge stone,--a large round boulder, to which ropes were attached, for hauling it backwards and forwards. The canes being placed in the trough, the heavy weight pa.s.sing over them pressed out the juice, which ran through holes in the lower end into the bowls. The fuel which had previously been placed under the bowls was then lighted. As soon as the juice became hot, the impure portions rose in the form of sc.u.m, which was skimmed off. Sambo had found some lime, with which he formed lime-water to temper the liquor. The boiling process over, the fires were allowed to go out, and the liquor was then poured out into fresh pans, in which it was again gently boiled. It was afterwards transferred to a number of open wooden boxes, where it was allowed to cool, while the mola.s.ses ran off into pans placed beneath them, the part remaining in the boxes being in the form of crystals. Another draining process was then gone through, when really very respectable-looking sugar was produced.

”It would not fetch anything of a price in the market,” observed my father; ”but I have no doubt that Marian will find it good enough to preserve her fruit.”

Marian was delighted, and a.s.sured Sambo that his sugar would answer very well indeed. ”If we could find some tea-plants, we might have a pleasanter beverage for breakfast than either cold water or palm-wine,”

observed Marian; ”though, to be sure, we should have no milk to mix with it.”

”I don't despair of finding that,” said Uncle Paul; ”indeed, I can promise to bring you some fresh milk directly you can produce the tea.

I only yesterday caught sight of the ma.s.saranduba, or cow-tree; and as it is not far off, I will this evening bring you a bowlful of the juice, which, when fresh, you will be unable to distinguish from the finest milk.”

Marian was of course very eager to see this wonderful vegetable milk; and in the evening Uncle Paul set out with a large bowl. Sambo and I accompanied him, Sambo carrying an axe. On going some distance through the forest, we saw a tree with deeply-scored reddish and rugged bark.

”Surely nothing like white juice can come out of so rough a skin,” I observed to Uncle Paul.

”Wait till Sambo has put his axe through it.--Cut hereabouts, Sambo,” he said, pointing to a part of the trunk under which he could hold the bowl.

The black did as directed, and made a deep incision, following it up by other cuts.

”That's enough,” exclaimed Uncle Paul; and having, as he spoke, placed the bowl beneath the cut, there literally gushed forth a stream of the purest white milk, so rapidly that the bowl was quickly filled. I smelt it and tasted it; and though it might have been said to be a little coa.r.s.e, I certainly should have supposed it to be pure milk. Uncle Paul cautioned us not to drink much, as, swallowed in any considerable quant.i.ty, it is looked upon as unwholesome.

We returned with the bowl full, Sambo having carried it on his head.

Marian was of course delighted with it, though she could not give us tea. Kallolo had brought her a berry, however, which he a.s.sured her was perfectly wholesome, and which, when pounded and boiled, afforded a fair subst.i.tute for coffee. I suspect, indeed, that it was wild coffee, and that the original seed had been brought to the spot by some bird.

We had thus secured a very palatable beverage, and had obtained milk and sugar to mix with it; but my father still had a fancy for procuring tea, or at all events a subst.i.tute for it.

”If we find any, it will be a satisfaction when we drink it to remember that it is not taxed,” he observed, ”and that the revenue derived from it will not be spent in a way over which we have no control.”

My poor father was alluding at the time to one of the grievances which the American colonies had already begun to feel very severely. We hunted in vain, however, for any shrub whose leaves were at all to be compared with those of the tea-tree of China, though we made several decoctions which afforded us refres.h.i.+ng beverages.

On the borders of the small lake Kallolo had discovered a large quant.i.ty of wild rice, on which numberless waterfowl fed. We collected an ample supply of the seed, and found it very useful in lieu of other farinaceous food. After it had been well stewed, it a.s.sisted to frica.s.see macaws, parrots, and monkeys, which formed our staple diet.