The Crater; or, Vulcan’s Peak A Tale of the Pacific

All thoughts of the expedition to Rancocus Island were temporarily abandoned by the governor and his council. Mark was greatly disappointed, nor did his regrets cease with disap­pointment only. Should Waally leave a portion of his people on that island, a collision must occur, sooner or later; there being a moral impossibility of the two colonies continuing friends while so near each other. The nature of an echo would be ascertained, before many months, among the hills of Ran­cocus Island, and when that came to be understood, there

was an end of the sacred character that the recent events had conferred on the Peak. Any straggling vagabond, or run­away from a ship, might purchase a present importance by explaining things, and induce the savages to renew their ef­forts. In a word, there was the moral certainty that hostilities must be renewed ere many months, did Waally remain so near them, and the question now seriously arose, whether it were better to press the advantage already obtained, and drive him back to his group, or to remain veiled behind the sort of mystery that at present enshrouded them. These points were gravely debated, and became subjects of as great interest among the colonists, as ever banks, or abolitionism, or antimasonry, or free-trade, or any other of the crotchets of the day, could possibly be in America. Many were the councils that were convened to settle this important point of policy, which, after all, like most other matters of moment, was decided more by the force of circumstances, than by any of the deductions of human reason. The weakness of the colony and the dangers to its existence, disposed of the question of an aggressive war. Waally was too strong to be assailed by a dozen enemies, and all the suggestions of prudence were in favour of remaining quiet, until the Friend Abraham White could, at least, be made available in the contest. Supported by that vessel, indeed, mat­ters would be changed; and Mark thought it would be in his power to drive in Waally, and even to depose him and place Ooroony at the head of the natives once more. To fi nish and launch the schooner, therefore, was now the fi rst great object, and, after a week of indecision and consultations, it was deter­mined to set about that duty with vigour.

The passage was short, a fresh breeze blowing, and four hours after quitting the cliffs, the Neshamony was under the lee of Cape South, and heading for the principal inlet. As the craft glided along, in perfectly smooth water now, Mark not­ed the changes that time was making on those rocks, which had so lately emerged from the depths of the ocean. The prairie, in particular, was every way worthy of his attention. A mass of sea­weed, which rested on a sort of stratum of mud immediately after the eruption, had now been the favourite pasturage of the hogs for more than a twelvemonth. These hogs at the pres­ent time exceeded fi fty full-grown animals, and there were twice that number of grunters at their heels. Then the work they had done on the Prairie was incredible. Not less than hundreds of acres had they rooted over, mixing the sea-weed with the mud, and fast converting the whole into soil. The rains had washed away the salt, or converted it into manure, as well as contribut­ing to the more rapid decay of the vegetable substances. In that climate the changes are very rapid, and Mark saw that another year or two would convert the whole of that vast range, which had been formerly computed at a surface of a thousand acres, into very respectable pastures, if not into meadows. Of mead­ows, however, there was very little necessity in that latitude; the eternal summer that reigned furnishing pasturage the year round. The necessary grasses might be wanting to seed down so large a surface, but those which Socrates had put in were well-

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planted, in and on the crater, near three years had contribut­ed to their growth, and neither the Guano nor Loam Island hav­ing been forgotten, many of them were now thirty feet high. As he approached the crater, on that occasion, he looked at those promising fruits of his early and provident care for the future with great satisfaction, for seldom was the labour of man better rewarded. Mark well knew the value of this tree, which was of use in a variety of ways, in addition to the delicious and health­ful fruit it bears; delicious and healthful when eaten shortly af­ter it is separated from the tree. The wood of the kernel could be polished, and converted into bowls, that were ornamental as well as useful. The husks made a capital cordage, and a very respectable sail-cloth, being a good substitute for hemp, though hemp, itself, was a plant that might be grown on the prai­ries to an almost illimitable extent. The leaves were excellent for thatching, as well as for making brooms, mats, hammocks, baskets and a variety of such articles, while the trunks could be converted into canoes, gutters, and timber generally. There was also one other expensive use of this tree, which the governor had learned from Heaton. While Bridget was still confi ned to the ship, after the birth of her daughter. Mark had brought her a dish of greens, which she pronounced the most delicious of any thing in its way she had ever tasted. It was composed of the young and delicate leaves of the new growth, or of the sum­mit of the cocoa-nut tree, somewhat resembling the artichoke in their formation, though still more exquisite in taste. But the tree from which this treat was obtained died, – a penalty that must ever be paid to partake of that dish. As soon as Bridget learned this, she forbade the cutting of any more for her use, at least.

Sure enough, the objects which Bridget had mistaken for mere hogs, were in truth the heads and shoulders of some twen­ty Indians who were observing the movements of the boat from positions taken on the other side of the plain, so as to conceal all but the upper halves of their bodies. They had two canoes; war canoes, moreover; but these were the whole party, at that point at least.