elastic gum, till I thought it sufficiently
thick. It was easy after this to remove the sand, the stocking, and the
hardened mud, to shake out the dust, and I had a pair of waterproof
boots, without seam, and fitting as well as if I had employed an English
shoemaker. My boys were wild with joy, and all begged for a pair; but I
wished first to try their durability, compared with those of buffalo
leather. I began to make a pair of boots for Fritz, using the skin drawn
from the legs of the buffalo we had killed; but I had much more
difficulty than with the caoutchouc. I used the gum to cover the seams,
so that the water might not penetrate. They were certainly not elegant
as a work of art, and the boys laughed at their brother's awkward
movements in them; but their own productions, though useful vessels,
were not models of perfection.

We then worked at our fountain, a great source of pleasure to my wife
and to all of us. We raised, in the upper part of the river, a sort of
dam, made with stakes and stones, from whence the water flowed into our
channels of the sago-palm, laid down a gentle declivity nearly to our
tent, and there it was received into the shell of the turtle, which we
had raised on some stones of a convenient height, the hole which the
harpoon had made serving to carry off the waste water through a cane
that was fitted to it. On two crossed sticks were placed the gourds that
served us for pails, and thus we had always the murmuring of the water
near us, and a plentiful supply of it, always pure and clean, which the
river, troubled by our water-fowl and the refuse of decayed leaves,
could not always give us. The only inconvenience of these open channels
was, that the water reached us warm and unrefreshing; but this I hoped
to remedy in time, by using bamboo pipes buried in the earth. In the
mean time, we were grateful for this new acquisition, and gave credit to
Fritz, who had suggested the idea.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXVII.

One morning, as we were engaged in giving the last finish to our
staircase, we were alarmed at hearing at a distance strange, sharp,
prolonged sounds, like the roars of a wild beast, but mingled with an
unaccountable hissing. Our dogs erected their ears, and prepared for
deadly combat. I assembled my family; we then ascended our tree, closing
the lower door, loaded our guns, and looked anxiously round, but nothing
appeared. I armed my dogs with thei