LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

      I observed that the water over which we now moved was as clear as crystal and of a beautiful blue tint. Looking over the boat's side, I could see far down into the depths below, which seemed to be filled with the strangest and most beautiful growths of corals and marine plants of all shapes and hues.

      As we progressed, my friend at the stern was joined by several companions, who came I know not whence, ​but I supposed they must have been swimming about and I had not observed them; they all helped to push along the boat.

      My astonishment at the strangeness of my position, pushed along in my boat by these tritons in bathing-drawers, helmets and spectacles, made me forget to use my oars, but the boat moved steadily onwards by their united efforts.

      "Who, and what are you?" I exclaimed; but could get no satisfactory reply.

      "Stop till you get ashore," one said; "you will then learn all about it." So I had to restrain my curiosity.

      The few miles of sea were soon traversed, and my boat was pushed into a creek, the snow-white sand of which was overhung with a dense foliage of palms and other tropical trees, whose appearance was strange to me.

      As soon as the boat stopped, I leaped out, right glad to touch terra firma once more. My attendants emerged from the water at the same time. They were six in number, and each, as he issued from the sea, plucked a broad palm-leaf and threw it over his shoulders. The one who had first assisted me, told me I must go along with them to the office of the Inspector.

      A narrow path wound upwards from the beach through the dense forest composed of magnificent trees, many of which were laden with tempting fruit; among which I noticed plantains, oranges, pomegranates and bread-fruit. Among their branches, birds of exquisite plumage darted hither and thither, chattering to one another in discordant notes, uttering shrill cries, and now and then emitting sweet musical sounds.

      ​Shrubs laden with flowers of resplendent colours, of every shade of scarlet, crimson, yellow, blue and white, formed a thick undergrowth, while climbing plants threw their shoots and tendrils from trunk to trunk and branch to branch. The air teemed with insect life. Butterflies of gorgeous colours and flies of all sorts and sizes danced among the branches, and hovered in countless myriads about us as we walked. In fact, their attentions were extremely annoying, and I observed that each of my companions used a broad palm-leaf by way of flapper, to ward off their attacks.

      The noise made by the feathered beauties, and the hum and buzz of the winged insects, rendered it utterly impossible for me to converse with my strange attendants; so we walked on without speaking until we arrived at the mouth of a cave or grotto, excavated, whether by nature or art I could not decide, in a precipitous rock that barred our further progress.

      Entering this cave, which extended a considerable way into the hill, I was struck with its agreeable coolness compared with the broiling heat of the external air.

      A portly personage, clad in a loose blue cotton robe, rose from a bed of green leaves at our entrance, and I was formally presented to him by my original captor, and given to understand that he was the Inspector we were in search of.

      He seated himself at a table, strewed with large books and writing materials. He demanded my name, and questioned me as to whence I came, how I was wrecked, the name of the ship, of the captain, the number of passengers, the cargo, &c., &c., and cross-examined me minutely as to the circumstances ​of my escape, and whether it was not possible that some of my fellow-passengers might also have been saved. He entered all the particulars in one of the large books, and when I, in return, questioned him as to the country I was now in, he said,—

      "You will learn all about us and our country from the Instructor, to whom you will soon be introduced; but as you must now be hungry and tired, you shall have food and rest here till morning."

      He dismissed my attendants, who speedily decamped and left me alone with the Inspector. He placed before me delicious fruits and some cooked meat of exquisite flavour and evidently most artistically prepared; but what animal it originally belonged to I was unable to say, nor did I care to ask my very laconic, not to say surly, entertainer. I fell to, and ate with great gusto. A few cocoa-nuts supplied me with a refreshing drink. I noticed that my host, after placing the food before me, retired to a distant part of the cave and did not once look at me while I was eating; in fact, he seemed rather to avoid seeing me eat. When I was completely satiated, I told him how well I had dined, to which he answered only by a sort of impatient grunt, and he conducted me to a bed of fresh leaves in a recess of the cave, and told me I might repose there as long as I chose.

      I flung myself on the inviting couch, and wearied out with the exertions I had lately made and the excitement caused by all the strange events of this day of surprises, I soon fell into a profound sleep of which I stood greatly in need, as I had had but little rest since I had been so wonderfully rescued alone of all the crew and passengers of the ill-fated Precursor.

      THE ARCHIPELAGO ON THE EQUATOR

       Table of Contents

      ​

      CHAPTER II.

      THE ARCHIPELAGO ON THE EQUATOR.

      IT was bright day when I awoke next morning. I looked about me and found I was alone in the cavern, which I had now leisure to survey. Believing it to be the dwelling-place of the Inspector, I could not help noticing how scantily it was provided with the comforts we consider indispensable in a room. The table on which lay the writing materials and books, a few chairs, several couches of leaves similar to that I lay on, and a sort of cupboard whence my host had taken the food he set before me yesterday, were all I was able to discover. Two or three garments, similar to that he had worn, hung from pegs driven into the rock.

      I had not been long risen when I saw approaching, by the path that led up from the beach, the Inspector, followed by a youth of about 17 or 18. Both were clad in the short trousers my conductors of the previous day wore, and a cloak of palm-leaves covered their shoulders. Their wet hair and skin showed me that they must have just emerged from the water, so I concluded that they had been enjoying a sea bath before breakfast, and I formed a high opinion of the decency of the inhabitants from the fact that all the ​bathers I had met with wore drawers, a fashion that does not yet prevail universally in England.

      The Inspector greeted me with a hearty "Good morning!" hoped I had slept well, and both immediately divested themselves of their leafy covering and proceeded to array themselves in the loose dressing-gown-like garments that hung from the pegs.

      The Inspector directed his attendant to set on the table some food similar to what I had partaken of the day before, and desired me to take my breakfast. On my asking him if he would not sit down and join me, he replied by a very curt negative and a gesture of what I thought contempt. So I concluded either that he had breakfasted, that he was a vegetarian, or that he, had some religious objections to eat with a person who might not be of the same creed as himself.

      While I was engaged in despatching, with infinite relish, the very succulent viands placed before me, commenting on their excellence in a manner which I thought would be pleasing to my entertainer, but which only seemed to excite his disgust; he, with his countenance averted, in order, as I supposed, to avoid looking at me eating, told me that his attendant would presently conduct me to the house of the Instructor, under whose care I should be placed. This person, he informed me, would give me all the information I desired respecting the manners and customs of the people I had come among, and endeavour to make me fit for mingling with the society of the country, which, he added, I was evidently far from being at present.

      I was rather nettled at this at first, and felt disposed to tell him that I was accustomed to good society in my own country and had no fear but that I should be ​able to conduct myself with propriety in the very best society this country had to offer. But I thought it best to swallow my indignation in silence, as I felt convinced that this was some vulgar Jack-in-office whom it was not my interest to offend.

      My

Скачать книгу