Part 1 - Dropped from the Clouds: Chapter 20

by Jules Verne

　　The winter season set in with the month of June, which corresponds with themonth of December in the Northern Hemisphere. It began with showers andsqualls, which succeeded each other without intermission. The tenants ofGranite House could appreciate the advantages of a dwelling which shelteredthem from the inclement weather. The Chimneys would have been quiteinsufficient to protect them against the rigor of winter, and it was to befeared that the high tides would make another irruption. Cyrus Harding hadtaken precautions against this contingency, so as to preserve as much aspossible the forge and furnace which were established there.

　　During the whole of the month of June the time was employed in differentoccupations, which excluded neither hunting nor fishing, the larder being,therefore, abundantly supplied. Pencroft, so soon as he had leisure,proposed to set some traps, from which he expected great results. He soonmade some snares with creepers, by the aid of which the warren henceforthevery day furnished its quota of rodents. Neb employed nearly all his timein salting or smoking meat, which insured their always having plenty ofprovisions. The question of clothes was now seriously discussed, thesettlers having no other garments than those they wore when the balloonthrew them on the island. These clothes were warm and good; they had takengreat care of them as well as of their linen, and they were perfectlywhole, but they would soon need to be replaced. Moreover, if the winter wassevere, the settlers would suffer greatly from cold.

　　On this subject the ingenuity of Harding was at fault. They must providefor their most pressing wants, settle their dwelling, and lay in a store offood; thus the cold might come upon them before the question of clothes hadbeen settled. They must therefore make up their minds to pass this firstwinter without additional clothing. When the fine season came round again,they would regularly hunt those musmons which had been seen on theexpedition to Mount Franklin, and the wool once collected, the engineerwould know how to make it into strong warm stuff.... How? He wouldconsider.

　　"Well, we are free to roast ourselves at Granite House!" said Pencroft."There are heaps of fuel, and no reason for sparing it."

　　"Besides," added Gideon Spilett, "Lincoln Island is not situated under avery high latitude, and probably the winters here are not severe. Did younot say, Cyrus, that this thirty-fifth parallel corresponded to that ofSpain in the other hemisphere?"

　　"Doubtless," replied the engineer, "but some winters in Spain are verycold! No want of snow and ice; and perhaps Lincoln Island is just asrigourously tried. However, it is an island, and as such, I hope that thetemperature will be more moderate."

　　"Why, captain?" asked Herbert.

　　"Because the sea, my boy, may be considered as an immense reservoir, inwhich is stored the heat of the summer. When winter comes, it restores thisheat, which insures for the regions near the ocean a medium temperature,less high in summer, but less low in winter."

　　"We shall prove that," replied Pencroft. "But I don't want to bothermyself about whether it will be cold or not. One thing is certain, that isthat the days are already short, and the evenings long. Suppose we talkabout the question of light."

　　"Nothing is easier," replied Harding.

　　"To talk about?" asked the sailor.

　　"To settle."

　　"And when shall we begin?"

　　"To-morrow, by having a seal hunt."

　　"To make candles?"

　　"Yes."

　　Such was the engineer's project; and it was quite feasible, since he hadlime and sulphuric acid, while the amphibians of the islet would furnishthe fat necessary for the manufacture.

　　They were now at the 4th of June. It was Whit Sunday and they agreed toobserve this feast. All work was suspended, and prayers were offered toHeaven. But these prayers were now thanksgivings. The settlers in LincolnIsland were no longer the miserable castaways thrown on the islet. Theyasked for nothing more--they gave thanks. The next day, the 5th of June, inrather uncertain weather, they set out for the islet. They had to profit bythe low tide to cross the Channel, and it was agreed that they wouldconstruct, for this purpose, as well as they could, a boat which wouldrender communication so much easier, and would also permit them to ascendthe Mercy, at the time of their grand exploration of the southwest of theisland, which was put off till the first fine days.

　　The seals were numerous, and the hunters, armed with their iron-tippedspears, easily killed half-a-dozen. Neb and Pencroft skinned them, and onlybrought back to Granite House their fat and skin, this skin being intendedfor the manufacture of boots.

　　The result of the hunt was this: nearly three hundred pounds of fat, allto be employed in the fabrication of candles.

　　The operation was extremely simple, and if it did not yield absolutelyperfect results, they were at least very useful. Cyrus Harding would onlyhave had at his disposal sulphuric acid, but by heating this acid with theneutral fatty bodies he could separate the glycerine; then from this newcombination, he easily separated the olein, the margarin, and the stearin,by employing boiling water. But to simplify the operation, he preferred tosaponify the fat by means of lime. By this he obtained a calcareous soap,easy to decompose by sulphuric acid, which precipitated the lime into thestate of sulphate, and liberated the fatty acids.

　　From these three acids-oleic, margaric, and stearic-the first, beingliquid, was driven out by a sufficient pressure. As to the two others, theyformed the very substance of which the candles were to be molded.

　　This operation did not last more than four and twenty hours. The wicks,after several trials, were made of vegetable fibers, and dipped in theliquefied substance, they formed regular stearic candles, molded by thehand, which only wanted whiteness and polish. They would not doubtless havethe advantages of the wicks which are impregnated with boracic acid, andwhich vitrify as they burn and are entirely consumed, but Cyrus Hardinghaving manufactured a beautiful pair of snuffers, these candles would begreatly appreciated during the long evenings in Granite House.

　　During this month there was no want of work in the interior of their newdwelling. The joiners had plenty to do. They improved their tools, whichwere very rough, and added others also.

　　Scissors were made among other things, and the settlers were at last ableto cut their hair, and also to shave, or at least trim their beards.Herbert had none, Neb but little, but their companions were bristling in away which justified the making of the said scissors.

　　The manufacture of a hand-saw cost infinite trouble, but at last aninstrument was obtained which, when vigorously handled, could divide theligneous fibers of the wood. They then made tables, seats, cupboards, tofurnish the principal rooms, and bedsteads, of which all the beddingconsisted of grass mattresses. The kitchen, with its shelves, on whichrested the cooking utensils, its brick stove, looked very well, and Nebworked away there as earnestly as if he was in a chemist's laboratory.

　　But the joiners had soon to be replaced by carpenters. In fact, thewaterfall created by the explosion rendered the construction of two bridgesnecessary, one on Prospect Heights, the other on the shore. Now the plateauand the shore were transversely divided by a watercourse, which had to becrossed to reach the northern part of the island. To avoid it the colonistshad been obliged to make a considerable detour, by climbing up to thesource of the Red Creek. The simplest thing was to establish on theplateau, and on the shore, two bridges from twenty to five and twenty feetin length. All the carpenter's work that was needed was to clear some treesof their branches: this was a business of some days. Directly the bridgeswere established, Neb and Pencroft profited by them to go to the oyster-bedwhich had been discovered near the downs. They dragged with them a sort ofrough cart, which replaced the former inconvenient hurdle, and brought backsome thousands of oysters, which soon increased among the rocks and formeda bed at the mouth of the Mercy. These molluscs were of excellent quality,and the colonists consumed some daily.

　　It has been seen that Lincoln Island, although its inhabitants had as yetonly explored a small portion of it, already contributed to almost alltheir wants. It was probable that if they hunted into its most secretrecesses, in all the wooded part between the Mercy and Reptile Point, theywould find new treasures.

　　The settlers in Lincoln Island had still one privation. There was no wantof meat, nor of vegetable products; those ligneous roots which they hadfound, when subjected to fermentation, gave them an acid drink, which waspreferable to cold water; they also made sugar, without canes or beet-roots, by collecting the liquor which distils from the "acer saceharinum,"a son of maple-tree, which flourishes in all the temperate zones, and ofwhich the island possessed a great number; they made a very agreeable teaby employing the herbs brought from the warren; lastly, they had anabundance of salt, the only mineral which is used in food,... but bread waswanting.

　　Perhaps in time the settlers could replace this want by some equivalent,it was possible that they might find the sago or the breadfruit tree amongthe forests of the south, but they had not as yet met with these precioustrees. However, Providence came directly to their aid, in an infinitesimalproportion it is true, but Cyrus Harding, with all his intelligence, allhis ingenuity, would never have been able to produce that which, by thegreatest chance, Herbert one day found in the lining of his waistcoat,which he was occupied in setting to rights.

　　On this day, as it was raining in torrents, the settlers were assembledin the great hall in Granite House, when the lad cried out all at once,--

　　"Look here, captain--A grain of corn!"

　　And he showed his companions a grain--a single grain--which from a holein his pocket had got into the lining of his waistcoat.

　　The presence of this grain was explained by the fact that Herbert, whenat Richmond, used to feed some pigeons, of which Pencroft had made him apresent.

　　"A grain of corn?" said the engineer quickly.

　　"Yes, captain; but one, only one!"

　　"Well, my boy," said Pencroft, laughing, "we're getting on capitally,upon my word! What shall we make with one grain of corn?"

　　"We will make bread of it," replied Cyrus Harding.

　　"Bread, cakes, tarts!" replied the sailor. "Come, the bread that thisgrain of corn will make won't choke us very soon!"

　　Herbert, not attaching much importance to his discovery, was going tothrow away the grain in question; but Harding took it, examined it, foundthat it was in good condition, and looking the sailor full in the face--"Pencroft," he asked quietly, "do you know how many ears one grain of corncan produce?"

　　"One, I suppose!" replied the sailor, surprised at the question.

　　"Ten, Pencroft! And do you know how many grains one ear bears?"

　　"No, upon my word."

　　"About eighty!" said Cyrus Harding. "Then, if we plant this grain, at thefirst crop we shall reap eight hundred grains which at the second willproduce six hundred and forty thousand; at the third, five hundred andtwelve millions; at the fourth, more than four hundred thousands ofmillions! There is the proportion."

　　Harding's companions listened without answering. These numbers astonishedthem. They were exact, however.

　　"Yes, my friends," continued the engineer, "such are the arithmeticalprogressions of prolific nature; and yet what is this multiplication of thegrain of corn, of which the ear only bears eight hundred grains, comparedto the poppy-plant, which bears thirty-two thousand seeds; to the tobacco-plant, which produces three hundred and sixty thousand? In a few years,without the numerous causes of destruction, which arrests their fecundity,these plants would overrun the earth."

　　But the engineer had not finished his lecture.

　　"And now, Pencroft," he continued, "do you know how many bushels fourhundred thousand millions of grains would make?"

　　"No," replied the sailor; "but what I do know is, that I am nothingbetter than a fool!"

　　"Well, they would make more than three millions, at a hundred and thirtythousand a bushel, Pencroft."

　　"Three millions!" cried Pencroft.

　　"Three millions."

　　"In four years?"

　　"In four years," replied Cyrus Harding, "and even in two years, if, as Ihope, in this latitude we can obtain two crops a year."

　　At that, according to his usual custom, Pencroft could not replyotherwise than by a tremendous hurrah.

　　"So, Herbert," added the engineer, "you have made a discovery of greatimportance to us. Everything, my friends, everything can serve us in thecondition in which we are. Do not forget that, I beg of you."

　　"No, captain, no, we shan't forget it," replied Pencroft; "and if ever Ifind one of those tobacco-seeds, which multiply by three hundred and sixtythousand, I assure you I won't throw it away! And now, what must we do?"

　　"We must plant this grain," replied Herbert.

　　"Yes," added Gideon Spilett, "and with every possible care, for it bearsin itself our future harvests."

　　"Provided it grows!" cried the sailor.

　　"It will grow," replied Cyrus Harding.

　　This was the 20th of June. The time was then propitious for sowing thissingle precious grain of corn. It was first proposed to plant it in a pot,but upon reflection it was decided to leave it to nature, and confide it tothe earth. This was done that very day, and it is needless to add, thatevery precaution was taken that the experiment might succeed.

　　The weather having cleared, the settlers climbed the height above GraniteHouse. There, on the plateau, they chose a spot, well sheltered from thewind, and exposed to all the heat of the midday sun. The place was cleared,carefully weeded, and searched for insects and worms; then a bed of goodearth, improved with a little lime, was made; it was surrounded by arailing; and the grain was buried in the damp earth.

　　Did it not seem as if the settlers were laying the first stone of someedifice? It recalled to Pencroft the day on which he lighted his onlymatch, and all the anxiety of the operation. But this time the thing wasmore serious. In fact, the castaways would have been always able to procurefire, in some mode or other, but no human power could supply another grainof corn, if unfortunately this should be lost!