Swiss Family Robinson

constructing another craft which would tempt us out upon the perfidious element.
    Her fears were, however, speedily allayed, for I assured her that the boat I intended to construct should be no flimsy cockleshell, but as safe and stout a craft as ever floated upon the sea. The Greenlander's cajack I intended to be my model, and I resolved not only to occupy the children, but also to produce a strong and serviceable canoe--a masterpiece of art.
    The boys were interested, and the boat-building was soon in operation. We constructed the skeleton of whalebone, using split bamboo canes to strengthen the sides and also to form the deck, which extended the whole length of the boat, leaving merely a square hole in which the occupant of the canoe might sit.
    The work engrossed our attention most entirely, and by the time it was complete the rain had passed away and the glorious sun again shone brightly forth.
    Our front door was just wide enough to admit of the egress of our boat, and we completed her construction in the open air. We quickly cased the sides and deck with seal-skin, making all the seams thoroughly watertight with caoutchouc .
    The cajack was indeed a curious-looking craft, yet so light that she might be lifted easily with one hand, and when at length we launched her she bounded upon the water like an india -rubber ball. Fritz was unanimously voted her rightful owner, but before his mother would hear of his entering the frail-looking skiff she declared that she must contrive a swimming-dress, so that `should his boat receive a puncture from a sharp rock or the dorsal fin of a fish and collapse, he might yet have a chance of saving his life'.
    Though I did not consider the cajack quite the soap bubble my wife imagined it, I yet willingly agreed to assist her in the construction of the dress.
    The garment we produced was most curious in appearance, and I must own that I doubted its efficiency. It was like a double waistcoat, made of linen prepared with a solution of india -rubber, the seams being likewise coated with caoutchouc , and the whole rendered perfectly airtight. We so arranged it that one little hole was left, by means of which air could be forced into the space between the outer covering and the lining, and the dress inflated.
    Meanwhile I perceived with pleasure the rapid vegetation the climate was producing. The seeds we had scattered had germinated, and were now promising magnificent crops. The verandah, too, was looking pleasant with its gay and sweet-scented creepers, which were already aspiring to the summit of the pillars. The air was full of birds, the earth seemed teeming with life.
    The dress was at length completed and Fritz, one fine afternoon, offered publicly to prove it. We all assembled on the beach, the boy gravely donned and inflated the garment, and amidst roars of laughter from his brothers, entered the water. Quickly and easily he paddled himself across the bay towards Shark Island , whither we followed in one of our boats.
    The experiment was most successful, and Ernest, Jack and Franz, in spite of their laughter at their brother's garment, begged their mother to make for each of them a similar dress.
    While on the island we paid a visit to the colonists whom we had established there the previous autumn. All were well; we could perceive by the footprints that the antelopes had discovered and made use of the shelter we had erected for them, and feeling that we could do nothing more we scattered handfuls of maize and salt, and strolled across to the other side of the island.
    The shore was covered with lovely shells, many of which, with beautiful pieces of delicate coral, the boys collected for their museum; strewn by the edge of the water too lay a great quantity of seaweed of various colours , and as the mother declared that much of it was of use, the boys assisted her to collect it and store it in the boat.
    As we pulled back to the land I was surprised to see that my wife chose from among the seaweed a number of curious leaves with edges notched like a saw. When we reached home she carefully washed these and dried them in the oven. There was evidently something mysterious about this preparation and my curiosity at length prompted me to make an attempt to discover the secret.
    `Are these leaves to form a substitute for tobacco?' said I. `Do you so long for its refreshing smell?'
    My wife smiled, for her dislike of tobacco was well known, and she answered in the same jocular