more useful weapon against a reptile than my gun. I had carried it but a little way, when I noticed a thick juice exuding from one end. I tasted it, and to my delight, found it sweet and pleasant. I at once knew that I was standing amongst sugarcanes.Wishing Fritz to make the same discovery, I advised him to cut a cane for his defense; he did so, and as he beat the ground before him, the reed split, and his hand was covered with the juice. He carefully touched the cane with the tip of his tongue, then, finding the juice sweet, he did so again with less hesitation; and a moment afterwards sprang back to me, exclaiming, `Oh, father, sugarcane, sugarcane! Taste it. Oh, how delicious, how delightful! Do let us take a lot home to mother,' he continued, sucking eagerly at the cane!
`Gently there,' said I, `take breath a moment, moderation in all things, remember. Cut some to take home if you like; only don't take more than you can conveniently carry.'
In spite of my warning, my son cut a dozen or more of the largest canes, and stripping them of their leaves, carried them under his arm. We then pushed through the cane-brake, and reached the clump of palms for which we had been making; as we entered it a troop of monkeys, who had been disporting themselves on the ground, sprang up, chattering and grimacing, and before we could clearly distinguish them, were at the very top of the trees.
Fritz was so provoked by their impertinent gestures that he raised his gun, and would have shot one of the poor beasts. `Stay,' cried
I, `never take the life of any animal needlessly. A live monkey up in that tree is of more use to us than a dozen dead ones at our feet, as I will show you.'
Saying this, I gathered a handful of small stones, and threw them up towards the apes. The stones did not go near them, but influenced by their instinctive mania for imitation, they instantly seized all the cocoanuts within their reach, and sent a perfect hail of them down upon us.
Fritz was delighted with my stratagem, and rushing forward picked up some of the finest of the nuts. We drank the milk they contained, drawing it through the holes which I pierced. The milk of a cocoanut has not a pleasant flavor, but it is excellent for quench-ing thirst. What we liked best was a kind of solid cream which adheres to their shells, and which we scraped off with our spoons.
After this delicious meal, we thoroughly despised the lobster we had been carrying, and threw it to Turk, who ate it gratefully; but far from being satisfied, the poor beast began to gnaw the ends of the sugarcanes, and to beg for cocoanut. I slung a couple of the nuts over my shoulder, fastening them together by their stalks, and Fritz having resumed his burden, we began our homeward march.
I soon discovered that Fritz found the weight of his canes considerably more than he expected: he shifted them from shoulder to shoulder, then for a while carried them under his arm, and finally stopped short with a sigh. `I had no idea,' he said, `that a few reeds would be so heavy. How sincerely I pity the poor negroes who are made to carry heavy loads of them! Yet how glad I shall be when my mother and brothers are tasting them.'
`Never mind, my boy,' I said, `Patience and courage! Do you not remember the story of Aesop and his breadbasket, how heavy he found it when he started, and how light at the end of his journey? Let us each take a fresh staff, and then fasten the bundle crosswise with your gun.'
We did so, and once more stepped forward. Fritz presently noticed that I from time to time sucked the end of my cane.
`Oh, come,' said he, `that's a capital plan of yours, father, I'll do that too.'
So saying, he began to suck most vigorously, but not a drop of the juice could he extract. `How is this?' he asked. `How do you get the juice out, father?'
`Think a little,' I replied, `you are quite as capable as I am of finding out the way, even if you do not know the real reason of your failure.'
`Oh, of course,' said he, `it is like trying to suck marrow from a marrow bone, without making a hole at the other end.'
`Quite right,' I said, `you form a vacuum in your mouth and the end of your tube, and expect the air to force down the liquid from the other end which it cannot possibly enter.'
13
Fritz was speedily perfect in the accomplishment of sucking sugarcane, discovering by experience the necessity for a fresh cut at each joint or knot in the cane, through which the juice could not flow; he talked of the pleasure of initiating his brothers in the art, and of how Ernest would enjoy the cocoanut milk, with which he had filled his flask.*
* M. Wyss's acquaintance with sugar has not extended to the sugar cane. The sap does not flow; it is embedded in the very fibrous pulp, and the cane must be crushed, and its juice cooked and repeatedly refined, to make the sugar. People enjoying the cane in its natural state must chew the pulp, which is not particularly sweet.
`My dear boy,' said I, `you need not have added that to your load; the chances are it will be vinegar by the time we get home. In the heat of the sun, it will ferment soon after being drawn from the nut.'
`Vinegar! Oh, that would be a horrid bore! I must look directly, and see how it is getting on,' cried Fritz, hastily swinging the flask from his shoulder, and tugging out the cork. With a loud `pop' the contents came forth, foaming like champagne.
`There now!' said I, laughing as he tasted this new luxury.
`You will have to exercise moderation again, friend Fritz! I daresay it is delicious, but it will go to your head, if
you venture deep into your flask.'
`My dear father, you cannot think how good it is! Do take some. Vinegar, indeed! This is like excellent wine.'
We were both invigorated by this unexpected draught, and went on so merrily after it, that the distance to the place where we had left our gourd dishes seemed less than we expected. We found them quite dry, and very light and easy to carry.
Just as we had passed through the grove in which we breakfasted, Turk suddenly darted away from us, and sprang furiously among a troop of monkeys, which were gambolling playfully on the turf at a little distance from the trees. They were taken by surprise completely, and the dog, now really ravenous from hunger, had seized one, and was fiercely tearing it to pieces before we could approach the spot.
His luckless victim was the mother of a tiny little monkey, which, being on her back when the dog flew at her, had hindered her flight; the little creature attempted to hide among the grass, and in trembling fear watched the tragic fate of its mother.
On perceiving Turk's bloodthirsty design, Fritz had eagerly rushed to the rescue, flinging away all he was carrying, and losing his hat in his haste. All to no purpose as far as the poor mother ape was concerned, and a laughable scene ensued, for no sooner did the young monkey catch sight of him than at one bound it was on his shoulders, and, holding fast by his thick curly hair, it firmly kept
its seat in spite of all he could do to dislodge it. He screamed and plunged about as he endeavoured to shake or pull the creature off, but all in vain, it only clung the closer to his neck, making the most absurd grimaces.
I laughed so much at this ridiculous scene, that I could scarcely assist my terrified boy out of his awkward predicament. Indeed, I told Fritz that the animal, having lost its mother, seemed determined to adopt Fritz. "Perhaps he has discovered in you something of the air of a father of a family."
"Or rather," Fritz retorted, "the little rogue has found out that he has to do with a chicken-heart, who shrinks from the idea of ill-treating an animal which has thrown itself on his protection. But father, he is yanking my hair terribly, and I shall be obliged to you to try once more to get him
