Part 28
“Young men, ahoy, _there_!”—“What is it?”—“The rapids are below you!”—“Ha, ha! we will laugh and quaff; all things delight us. What care we for the future? No man ever saw it. ‘Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof[1].’ We will enjoy life while we may[2]; we will catch pleasure as it flies. This is enjoyment; time enough[3] to steer out of danger when we are driving swiftly with the current.”—“Young men, ahoy!”—“What is it?”—“Beware! Beware! The rapids are below you!”—Now you see water foaming[4] all around you.—See how fast you pass that point!—Up with the helm!—Now turn[5]!—Pull hard[6]—quick!—quick!—pull for your lives!—pull till[7] the blood starts from the nostrils, and the veins stand like whipcord upon the brow! Set the mast in the socket! hoist the sail! Ah, ah!—it is too late! Shrieking, cursing, howling, blaspheming, over you go[8]!—Thousands go over the rapids of Intemperance[9] every year, through the power of evil habit, crying out all the while[10]: “When I find out that it is injuring me, I will give it up!” The power of evil habit, I repeat, is fascinating[11], is deceptive; and man may go on arguing and coming to conclusions while on the way down to destruction[12].—J. B. GOUGH.
[1] +Es ist genug, daß ein jeglicher Tag seine eigene Plage habe!+
[2] +so lange wir es noch können.+
[3] +es bleibt uns noch Zeit genug.+
[4] +schäumendes Wasser.+
[5] ‘to turn’, here +um´kehren+.
[6] Pull, +Rudert+; ‘hard’, here +aus Leibeskräften.+
[7] Supply the pron. +euch+ here; starts = streams; from the nostrils, +aus der Nase+.
[8] +stürzt ihr in den Abgrund hinunter!+
[9] +Trunksucht+, f., seems to be the right expression here, although the dictionaries translate the word by +Unmäßigkeit+, f., and +Völlerei+, f.
[10] +und rufen immer.+
[11] here +bestrickend+; is = and.
[12] and — destruction = and often we are still occupied with arguing a matter (+eine Sache gründlich zu erörtern+) in order to come (+gelangen+) to a definite conclusion, when we are (+sich befinden+) already on the way to destruction (+Verderben+, n.).
_Section 233._
A CURIOUS STORY[1].
I.
We heard a curious story at Tristan[2] about two Germans who had settled nearly two years before on Inaccessible Island[3]. Once a year, about the month _of_ December, the Tristan men go[4] to the two outlying islands to pick up the few seals which are still to be found there. On two of these occasions they had seen the Germans, and within a few months smoke had risen from the island, which they attributed[5] to their having fired (S. 161, N. 21) some of the brushwood; but as they had seen or heard nothing of them since, they thought the probability was that they had perished. Captain Nares[6] wished to visit the other islands, and to ascertain the fate of the two men was an additional object in doing so[7].
Next morning we were close under Inaccessible Island, the second in size of the little group of three. The ship was surrounded by multitudes of penguins[8], and as few of us had any previous personal acquaintance with this eccentric form of life[9], we followed their movements with great interest. The penguin as a rule swims under water, rising now and then and resting on the surface, like one of the ordinary water-birds, but more frequently with its body entirely covered, and only lifting its head from time to time to breathe.
The structure of Inaccessible Island is very much the same as Tristan, only the pre-eminent feature[10] of the latter, the snowy cone, is wanting. A wall of volcanic rocks, about the same height as the cliff at Tristan, and which one is inclined to believe to have been at one time continuous with it, entirely surrounds Inaccessible Island, falling for the most part sheer[11] into the sea, and it seems that it slopes sufficiently to allow a tolerably easy ascent to the plateau on the top at one point only.
[1] This story is taken from Mr. W. J. J. Spry’s most interesting account of ‘The Cruise of the Challenger’. The Tristan d’Acunha group of islands (+die Erfrischungsinseln+), so named from the Portuguese navigator who discovered it early in the 16th century, lies in mid-ocean, about 1300 miles south of St. Helena and 1500 miles west of the Cape of Good Hope, nearly on a line between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn; it is thus probably the most isolated and remote of all the abodes of men. The group consists of the larger Island of Tristan and two smaller islands—Inaccessible Island, about 18 miles south-west from Tristan, and Nightingale Island, twenty miles south of the main island. Tristan only is permanently inhabited, the other two are visited from time to time by sealers. In the year 1829 Tristan was inhabited by 27 families; in 1836 it possessed a population of 42; in 1852 the population had risen to 85, and in 1867 this number was only exceeded by one.
[2] +Auf der Insel Tristan+, which place at the head of the period; about, +über+, with Acc.
[3] The author finds that the best German maps use the English name of ‘Inaccessible Island’ unaltered. This is also the case with ‘Nightingale Island’.
[4] +fahren+; =‘to go’, when used in the sense of ‘travelling, riding (in a carriage), driving, sailing, etc.’, is mostly rendered by +reisen+ (generally used for greater distances) or by +fahren+. When used in the sense of ‘riding on horseback,’ it is rendered by +reiten+.=
[5] = which they attributed to the circumstance.
[6] Captain Nares was the commander of ‘The Challenger’ at that time.
[7] and — so = and as he was anxious (+begierig+) to ascertain (+erforschen+) the fate of the two men, the voyage [there, +dahin+] was at once determined upon.
[8] +der Pinguin+, pl. e.
[9] with — life, +mit dieser eigentümlichen Vogelart+.
[10] = the characteristic peculiarity.
[11] = straight.
_Section 234._
A CURIOUS STORY.
II.
There is a shallow bay in which the ship anchored in fifteen fathoms on the east side of the island; and there, as in Tristan, a narrow belt of low ground, extending for about a mile along the shore, is interposed between the cliff and the sea. A pretty waterfall tossed itself down, about the middle of the bay, over the cliff from the plateau above. A little way down it was nearly lost in spray, like the Staubbach of Schaffhausen, and collected itself again into a rivulet[1], where it regained the rock at the lower level. A hut built of stones and clay, and roofed with spars and thatch, lay in a little hollow[2] near the waterfall, and the two Germans, in excellent health and spirits, but enraptured at the sight of the ship and longing for a passage anywhere out of the island, were[3] down on the beach, waiting for the first boat. Their story is a curious one[4], and as Captain Nares agreed[5] to take them to the Cape, we had ample time to get an account of their adventures, and to supplement from their experience such crude notions of the nature of the place as we could gather during our short stay[6].
Frederick and Gustav Stoltenhoff are sons of a dyer in Aix-la-Chapelle (+Aachen+). Frederick, the elder, was employed in a merchant’s office in Aix-la-Chapelle at the time of the Franco-German war (1870). He was called on to serve in the German army, where he attained the rank of a lieutenant, and took part in the siege of Metz and Thionville. At the end of the campaign he was discharged, and returned home to find his old situation filled up.
[1] +gestaltete sich jedoch wieder zu einem kleinen Bache.+
[2] +Vertiefung+, f.
[3] = stood. Consult S. 5, N. 2.
[4] = very (+höchst+) curious.
[5] = granted them their request.
[6] Let the student endeavour to construe this passage by means of the attributive construction, which will prove excellent practice.
_Section 235._
A CURIOUS STORY.
III.
In the meantime, his younger brother, Gustav, who was a sailor and had already made several trips, had joined[1] on the 1st of August, 1870, at Greenock, as an ordinary seaman, the English ship “Beacon Light,” bound for Rangoon. On the way out[2], the cargo, which consisted of coal, caught fire[3] when they were from[4] six to seven hundred miles north-west of Tristan d’Acunha, and for (S. 166, N. 10) three days all hands[5] were doing their utmost to extinguish the fire. On the third day, the hatches, which had been battened down, to exclude the air, blew up[6], the main hatch carrying overboard[7] the second mate who had been standing on it at the time of the explosion. The boats had been provisioned beforehand, ready to leave the ship. Two of the crew were drowned through one of the boats being swamped[8], and the survivors, to the number of sixteen, were stowed in the long-boat. Up to this time the ship had been nearing Tristan with a fair wind at the rate of[9] six knots an hour[10], so that they had now only about three hundred miles to go. They abandoned the ship on Friday; on Saturday afternoon they sighted Tristan, and on the following day a boat came off to their assistance and towed them ashore.
The shipwrecked crew remained for eighteen days at Tristan d’Acunha, during which time they were treated with all kindness and hospitality. They were relieved by the ill-fated “Northfleet,” bound for Aden with coal, and Gustav Stoltenhoff found his way back to Aix-la-Chapelle.
[1] to join a ship, +sich einem Schiffe verheuern+.
[2] = On the voyage thither (+dorthin+).
[3] to catch fire, +in Brand geraten+.
[4] = about, +ungefähr+.
[5] ‘all hands’, here = all sailors, +die ganze Mannschaft+, +alle Matrosen+, +alle Schiffsleute+.
[6] +in die Luft sprengen+; the hatches, +die Luken+; the main hatch, +die große Luke+.
[7] = and the main hatch carried overboard (+über Bord schleudern+).
[8] = through the sinking of one of the boats.
[9] ‘=at the rate of=’, referring to the rapidity of motion, is rendered by ‘+=mit einer Schnelligkeit von=+’, but when referring to price, is generally rendered by ‘+=zum Preise von=+’.
[10] =an hour=, +=in der Stunde=+, +=per Stunde=+, or +=die Stunde=+. He receives 20 marks a week, +er erhält 20 Mark die Woche+ (or +wöchentlich+).
_Section 236._
A CURIOUS STORY.
IV.
During his stay at Tristan he heard that a large number of seals were to be had among the islands[1], and he seems to have been greatly pleased with the Tristaners and to have formed a project of returning there. When he got home, his brother had just got back from the war and was unemployed; he infected him with his notion[2], and the two agreed[3] to join in a venture to Tristan to see what they could (App. § 33) make[4] by seal-hunting and barter.
They accordingly sailed for[5] St. Helena in August 1871, and on the 6th of November left St. Helena for Tristan in an American whaler bound on a cruise[6] in the South Atlantic. The captain of the whaler, who had been often at Tristan d’Acunha, had some doubt of the reception which the young men would get[7] if they went as permanent settlers[8] there, and he spoke so strongly of the advantages of Inaccessible Island, on account of the greater productiveness of the soil, and of its being the centre[9] of the seal-fishing, that they changed their plans and were landed on the west side of Inaccessible Island on the 27th of November 1871,—early in summer. A quarter of an hour after, the whaler departed, leaving them the only inhabitants of one of the most remote spots on the face of the earth. They do not seem, however, to have been in the least depressed by their isolation.
The same day the younger brother clambered up to the plateau with the help of the tussock grass[10], in search of goats or pigs, and remained there all night, and on the following day the two set to work to build themselves a hut for shelter. They had reached the end of their voyage by no means unprovided, and the inventory of their belongings[11] is curious.
[1] +in der Gegend der Inseln.+
[2] = he persuaded (+gewinnen+, str. v. tr.) his brother for his plan.
[3] +überein´kommen+; to join — to Tristan = to undertake the adventurous voyage to Tristan.
[4] = earn.
[5] = to.
[6] The vessel is bound on a cruise in the Atlantic, +das Schiff ist dazu bestimmt, im atlantischen Ozean umherzukreuzen+.
[7] had — get = doubted (+zweifelte daran+) that the young men would be kindly (+freundlich+) received (+aufnehmen+). Use the active voice with ‘+man+’.
[8] He went there as a permanent settler, +er ließ sich dort dauernd nieder+.
[9] = and of its central (+zentral+) position for seal-fishing.
[10] +das Tussockgras.+
[11] here +Habseligkeiten+, Nom. Pl.
_Section 237._
A CURIOUS STORY.
V.
They had an old whale-boat[1] which they had bought at St. Helena, with mast, sails, and oars, three spars for a roof, a door, and a glazed window; a wheel-barrow, two spades and a shovel, two pickaxes, a saw, a hammer, two chisels, two or three gimlets, and some nails; a kettle, a frying-pan, two sauce-pans, knives and forks, and some crockery; two blankets each, and empty covers[2] which they afterwards filled with sea-birds’ down. They had a lamp, a bottle of oil, and six dozen boxes of Bryant and May’s matches.
For internal use[3] they had two hundred pounds _of_ flour, two hundred pounds _of_ rice, one hundred pounds _of_ biscuits, twenty pounds _of_ coffee, ten pounds _of_ tea, thirty pounds _of_ sugar, three pounds _of_ table-salt, a little pepper, eight pounds _of_ tobacco, five bottles _of_ gin, six bottles _of_ Cape wine[4], six bottles _of_ vinegar, and some Epsom salts. A barrel _of_ coarse salt was provided for curing seal-skins, and forty empty casks were intended for oil. Their arms and ammunition consisted of a short English rifle, an old German fowling-piece, two and a half pounds _of_ powder, two hundred bullets, and four sheath-knives[5]. The captain of the whaler gave them some seed potatoes, and they had a collection of the ordinary garden seeds.
When they had been four days on the island, they had a visit from a party of men from Tristan, who had come on their annual sealing excursion. They were ten days on Inaccessible, and were very friendly in their intercourse with the new comers.
[1] the whale-boat, +das beim Wallfischfang gebräuchliche Boot+. We have not a compound noun to render the English term. Say ‘They had an old boat, which had been used (+benutzt+) for whale-fishing and which they had bought in (S. 46, N. 6) the Island _of_ St. Helena.
[2] here +Überzug+, m., pl. +Überzüge+.
[3] +Für ihre körperlichen Bedürfnisse.+
[4] +Kapwein+, m.
[5] +Jagdmesser+, m.
_Section 238._
A CURIOUS STORY.
VI.
They told them that the north side of the island was better suited for a settlement, and transported all their goods (S. 236, N. 11) thither in one of their boats. Being familiar with the place, they showed them generally their way about and the different passes by which the plateau might be reached, and they taught them how to build[1] to withstand the violent winds, and how to thatch with tussock-grass. Immediately after they left, the brothers set about building a house and clearing some ground[2] for potatoes and other vegetables. They killed nineteen seals, and prepared the skins, but they were unable to make any[3] quantity of oil. Towards the end of the sealing season their boat got damaged in the surf, and they were obliged to cut it in two[4], patch up the best half of it, and use it as best they could[5] in smooth weather, close to shore.
They went from time to time to the upper plateau and shot goats and pigs. When they first arrived, they counted a flock of twenty-three goats; three of these were killed during the summer of 1871-1872 by the Tristan people (S. 157, N. 4), and six by themselves; the remaining fourteen remained over the winter of 1872. The flesh of the goats they found extremely delicate. Pigs were much more numerous, but their flesh was not so palatable, from their feeding[6] principally on sea-birds; that of the boars was especially rank. They found the pigs very valuable, however, in yielding an abundant supply of lard[7], which they used for frying their potatoes.
[1] = how they must (Imp. Subj.) build.
[2] to clear the ground (= land), +eine Strecke Landes urbar machen+.
[3] here +erzielen+; any = a large.
[4] to cut in two, +entzwei´schneiden+, sep. comp. irr. v.
[5] = as well as possible.
[6] from their feeding = as they lived; on, +von+.
[7] in — lard = on account of their lard (+Schmalz+, n.).
_Section 239._
A CURIOUS STORY.
VII.
In the month of April 1872, a singular misfortune befell them. While burning some of the brushwood below to make a clearing, the tussock-grass in the gully[1], by which they had been in the habit[2] of ascending the cliff, caught fire, and as it had been only by its assistance that they had been able to scramble up to the plateau, their only hunting-ground was now inaccessible from the strip of beach on which their hut and garden stood, which was closed in on either side by a headland jutting into the sea. While their half-boat remained seaworthy, they were able to paddle round in fine weather to the west side of the island, where there was an access to the top; but the “sea-cart,” as they called it, was washed off the beach and broken up in June, and after that the only way they had of reaching the plateau was by swimming round the headland—a risky feat, even in the finest weather, in these wild regions.
In winter it was found to be impossible to reach the terrace, and as their supply of food was low, they experienced considerable privations during their first winter. Their daily allowance of food was reduced to a quantity just sufficient to maintain life, and in August they were little better than skeletons[3].
Help was, however, near. Early in August a multitude of penguins landed[4] hard by their hut,—stupid[5] animals, which will scarcely get out of one’s way, and are easily knocked down with a stick[6], and with fleshy breasts, wholesome enough, though with a rather fishy taste; and in the end of August the females began to lay large blue eggs, sufficiently delicate in flavour.
[1] +Vertiefung+, f.
[2] I was in the habit of ascending the mountain every day, +ich pflegte täglich den Berg zu ersteigen+.
[3] = +und im August waren sie fast zu Skeletten geworden.+
[4] = settled, +sich niederlassen+.
[5] Begin a new period here and say: ‘These are stupid animals’, etc.
[6] and — stick, +sich leicht mit einem Stock niederschlagen lassen+; and with — taste = and have a fleshy breast, which (supply +zwar+ here) yields (+bieten+) a wholesome food, but (+jedoch+) possesses a rather (+etwas+) fishy taste.—The whole period is difficult to translate into good German; the author considers it therefore necessary to assist the student.
_Section 240._
A CURIOUS STORY.
VIII.
A French barque hove-to off the beach[1] in the middle of September, and in her they shipped their seal-skins, and bartered penguins’ eggs with her for biscuits and tobacco. Had the bark arrived a week earlier, the brothers would have left the island; but the eggs had set them up again[2], and they determined to remain a little longer. In October, a schooner, which proved[3] to be “The Themis,” a whaler from the cape of Good Hope, was seen standing towards the island. A gale _of wind_ blew[4] her off for a couple of days, but she returned and landed some men from Tristan, who had crossed[5] to see what the hermits were about[6]. Their guests remained a day and a half, and then returned to Tristan.
Early in November, that is, early in the second summer, the brothers thus swam round the eastern headland:—Frederick with their blankets, the rifle, and a spare suit of clothes[7]—Gustav with powder, matches, and the kettle in an oil-cask. They mounted by the help of the tussock-grass to the top of the cliff, went over to the west side of the plateau, and there built a small hut, where they remained a month, living on goats’ flesh and fresh pork.
On the 10th of December they returned home, mended their thatch, dug[8] the early potatoes, and put the garden in order.
On the 19th of December the Tristan men made their second sealing expedition. They remained nine days on the island, and killed forty seals, one sea-elephant, and eight of the remaining[9] twelve goats. They left some flour in exchange for an oil-cask, and this was the last communication between the brothers and the outer world until the “Challenger” called eight months later.
[1] +legte sich ... unweit der Insel vor Anker.+
[2] = had strengthened them again.
[3] +sich erweisen als.+
[4] = drove.
[5] = who had come over.
[6] = doing.
[7] a spare suit of clothes, +ein Reserveanzug+, m.
[8] here +auf´nehmen+; early potatoes, +frühzeitige Kartoffeln+.
[9] +noch übrig.+
_Section 241._
A CURIOUS STORY.
IX.
In January Frederick swam round the point[1] again, and mounted the cliff. He shot four pigs, ran[2] the fat into buckets, and threw the hams down to his brother on the beach below. He saw the four last goats, but spared[3] them to increase their number. In February a boat came to the west side from Tristan, and its crew killed the four goats, and departed without communicating with the Stoltenhoffs[4].
The relations between the Tristan people and the brothers does not appear to have been so cordial latterly as it was at first, and the Stoltenhoffs believe that[5] the intention of their neighbours in killing the goats, and in delaying from time to time to bring them some live stock, which they had promised them, was to force them to leave the island. It may have been so, for the Tristan men had been in the habit of making a yearly sealing expedition to Inaccessible Island, and no doubt the presence of the energetic strangers lessened their chance of success.
In March the brothers once more swam round the point, and ascended the cliff. After staying on the plateau together for a few days, it was settled that Frederick should remain above to procure (S. 58, N. 8) a stock of lard for the winter, Gustav returning to the hut and storing it[6]. When a pig was killed, the hide, with the fat in it, was rolled up, secured with thongs of skin, and thrown over the cliff, where Gustav then ran the lard into a cask.
[1] +Landspitze+, f.
[2] +laufen lassen.+
[3] +verschonen.+
[4] = without having seen the Stoltenhoffs.
[5] = that their neighbours killed the goats and delayed, etc., ... in order to force them, etc.
[6] +um es zuzubereiten.+
_Section 242._
A CURIOUS STORY.
X.
During the second winter, the privations of the brothers do not seem to have been great. They were getting accustomed to their mode of life, and had always sufficient food, such as it was[1]. They were remarkably well educated. Both could speak and read English fluently, and the elder had a good knowledge of French. Their library consisted of eight volumes: Schoedler’s Natural History, a German Atlas, Charles O’Malley, Captain Morrell’s Voyages, two old volumes of a monthly magazine[2], Hamlet and Coriolanus with French notes, and Schiller’s poems. These books they came to know almost by heart[3], but they had considerable resources in themselves, in the intelligent interest they took in the ever-changing appearances of nature.
When the “Challenger” arrived, they were preparing for another summer; but the peculiar food, and the want of variety in it, were beginning to tell upon them, for all their original stores were exhausted, with the exception of the Epsom salts, which were untouched, neither of them having had an hour’s illness during their sojourn; and they were heartily glad of a passage to the Cape.
Frederick came to the ship before we left for the South in December. He was then comfortably settled in a situation in a merchant’s office in Cape Town, and Gustav was on his way home to see his people[4] before resuming the thread of his roving sailor’s life.—W. J. J. SPRY, “THE CRUISE OF THE CHALLENGER.”