Chapter Three. "Learning New Things"
It was the 15th July and I began to visit other parts of the island. I went up the river and I saw where the clean water came from. This was the time of year when it didn't rain much and there wasn't much water. There was grass near the river. On the hills, there were lots of plants and fruit trees. I didn't know all their names. Were they good to eat? It was difficult to tell. The grapes were good, I knew that; but the others? I also saw the sugar plant and I remembered my plantation in Brazil. The men in Brazil never got their slaves from me. I don't think they'll remember me now, I thought.
I stayed in this place all night. It was nice with all the plants there. I slept in a tree.
Next morning I walked again and saw other new parts. This part of the island was very green. I felt I was in a garden. There were lots of orange trees. Yippee, orange juice for breakfast! I wanted to take some oranges and other fruit back home to my cave, but it was very far. It was difficult to carry the fruit and when I got home after three days, all the fruit was bad and I couldn't eat it. I made a bag from one of the ship's sails and went again to this beautiful green part of my island. Yes, my island! I was the only person on it! This time I got home and the fruit was good. I looked about me when I got home. For a minute I thought about leaving my cave and making a new home in the beautiful garden on my island.
Then, I remembered that I could see the sea from my cave. I wanted to be near the sea to watch for any ships. The beautiful green garden wasn't near the beach. There were also all my things in the cave; my hammock, my chair, my table. It was difficult to start again from nothing. This cave was my home. But I loved my green garden and stayed there all of July. I made a second house. This time, it wasn't a cave, but a little house in the trees. I made it with parts of trees and other plants. You couldn't see it from the outside, because between the house and the green garden, there was a wall of trees. I felt safe there. Now I had a house near the sea and a house with a beautiful garden!
August came and with it, the rain. My new house wasn't good for the rain. I went back to my cave because it was good in all weather. It rained all of August, September and some of October. I stayed in my cave and ate the food I had. On the 30th September, I drew a cross on my tree. There were now three hundred and sixty five crosses on that tree; a year! I remembered when I came to this island; the storm, the big waves, then the sand under my feet. Then, I remembered my friends and I felt very sad. I needed a friend. I talked to my animals; to my dog, my cats, even to my goats, but it wasn't the same. I looked out at sea, but there was nothing. Where was I? Why were there never any ships? Didn't people travel these days? I went to bed, but I didn't sleep that night.
After all the rain, I started to work on my farm again. Yes, I now called it my farm. I had my goats, my grain and my rice, and I worked hard every day. It was important to know the right time to do things on the farm. The first time, I didn't have any grain or rice because it didn't rain, and the plants died. Then, I began to understand the weather, the months when it rained and when there was the sun. At the start of my third year on the island, I'm happy to tell you that my plants didn't die and I had lots of grain and rice.
When the good weather came, about November, I usually went to see my other house in my garden. I called this my garden house. Everything was the same there; green and beautiful after all the rain. This is how I understood the weather on my island:
Half February. March. Half April.
Rain.
Half April. May. June. July. Half August.
Sun.
Half August. September. Half October.
Rain.
Half October. November. December. January. Half February.
Sun.
When it rained, I stayed in my house. I had food and water and I did lots of little jobs inside. I needed some baskets for my grain and other things. When I was a little boy, my father took me to town. I often watched people at work on the streets. One man made baskets and sometimes I helped him. They were beautiful. I could remember how he made them.
Near my garden house, there was a small tree. It was the right kind of tree to make baskets. I took my tools and worked hard all day on the tree. I cut it into small, slim parts and took them back home. Then, I used these small parts to make my baskets. It was difficult at first, but I learned. Soon, I had lots of baskets for different things. They weren't beautiful but they were very useful.
Now I needed something to put water in. But what? This was a difficult problem for me. I only had some old glasses from the ship. They were very small. I also needed something to make soup in. ‘I'll make these later,' I thought.
Now the weather was nice and I wanted to see the parts of the island I didn't know. I left with my gun, some tools and my dog, and started to walk. I also took some food and water. I saw my garden house. After, I could see the sea again. It was a beautiful day and I could see something… an island? I didn't know. I didn't know which part of the world I was in. Was it a part of America I could see? Who lived there? Savages? Savages ate people. I didn't want to meet any of them. I was safe here on my island. I didn't want to go to that other country.
On this part of the island, there were trees and a lot of grass and flowers. I saw a lot of parrots too. They were all beautiful colours; red, green, blue and yellow! I wanted to take a parrot home with me to my cave. I wanted to teach it to speak to me.
I waited and watched. In the end, I caught a young parrot. Later, I took it home, but it was some years before it learned to speak to me.
I enjoyed walking about the island. At night, I didn't go back to my house. I slept in a tree, then started again the next morning. I came down from the hills to the beach on this part of the island.
On my part, there weren't many turtles. Here there were hundreds! And there were a lot of different birds too. I didn't know the names of all of them, but some were very good to eat. I can say that I now had lots of different things to eat; meat, fish and fruit and I felt very well for it. This part of the island was very nice, but I had my houses and I didn't want to make a new one here too. I felt I was on holiday in this part. It wasn't my home. I enjoyed this holiday, but then it was time to go home and back to work on my farm. I was happy to sleep in my hammock again after all those nights in the trees. I could sit on my chair at my table again and have my dinner. What a great house!
I had a rest for a week, then started work again. First, I made a little house for my parrot, Poll.
I found a new place for my goats, where there was a lot of grass. I made a new wall for them. They couldn't run up the hill now. They stayed where I put them.
The 30th September came again with the rain. I remembered, for the second time, when I came to the island. Now I felt I had a good life. It was different from the first year when I didn't know anything.
In the first year, I didn't like living on this island. Now I was happy when I woke up in the morning. I had my farm, my garden house, my animals and all the food I wanted. Now, I didn't feel sad every day, only sometimes. I was ready to start year three on the island.
I always had lots to do. I didn't have many tools and I didn't have anybody to help me. My work was slow and hard but I enjoyed it. Sometimes animals came and ate my grain. I made a wall but it wasn't easy. I started on a Saturday and finished after three weeks. This is only one example of the problems I had. Everything was difficult for me because there was only me. Then, birds came and ate my grain. I didn't know how to stop them. I needed that grain. I thought for some time. Then I got three birds with my gun. I put the dead birds on a tree near my grain. The other birds never came back after that!
My grain was ready in December and there was a lot of it that year! I cut my grain and put it in my baskets. I did the same with my rice. I had a lot of seeds for next year. This year I needed to learn to make bread, but I didn't know where to start. The only good thing was that I had lots of time! In the next six months I made new tools to work the grain. When it rained, I stayed inside and taught my parrot to speak. The first word he said was his name, ‘POLL'.
Think how excited I was when I heard him speak! It was great! After a lot of problems, I made my bread in the end. I was very happy with my work.
I also learned to make rice cakes. Every year I had all this work to do and time went fast. Sometimes I thought about the other part of the island, where I went for my ‘holiday'. I thought again about the other island that was on that part. It wasn't near but… I thought about leaving my island. Was it safe to leave this island and go there? Were there savages on those islands? It was a difficult question to answer. I thought about Xury and the long boat we had when we left the pirate captain in Africa. I needed a boat.
‘Poll, I'll make a boat from a tree!' Yes, that's what I'll do,' I said to my parrot one day. I often spoke to my parrot. It was nice for me to have somebody to talk to.
I found a tree I liked near the beach. I cut it down and started to make my boat. I was excited and worked every day. It was big and long. It was a boat for twenty-five men. I was happy when I finished it. Then… oops… how could it go into the water? It sat on the sand… my big, beautiful boat… ready for the sea, but there was a long beach between my boat and the sea and I could do nothing to get it in the water. ‘Why didn't I think of this before?' I hear you ask. I know, you're right. You can learn from me… think before you do something! All that work and a boat I couldn't use!
The 30th September came again… I started my fourth year on this island. After the ‘boat problem' I stopped thinking about the world outside my island. I was safe here, free from all the problems of the big world out there.
