The Cliff Climbers Part 18

and our own experience proclaims the truth conveyed in the distich.

He who has lived in the tropical lands of ever-spring--where the leaves never fall, and the flowers never fade--can well confirm the fact: that even spring itself may in time become tiresome! We long for the winter--its frost and snow, and cold bitter winds. Though ever so enamoured of the gay green forest, we like at intervals to behold it in its russet garb, with the sky in its coat of grey, sombre but picturesque. Strange as it may appear, it is true: the moral, like the natural atmosphere, stands in need of the storm.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO.

A KITE!

As soon as their mirth had fairly subsided, Karl and Caspar resumed the conversation, which had been broken off so abruptly.

"And so, brother," said Karl, who was the first to return to the subject, "you say there is a bird of the eagle genus, that might carry a rope over the cliff for us. Of what bird are you speaking?"

"Why, Karl, you are dull of comprehension this morning. Surely the presence of the two _kites_ should have suggested what I mean."

"Ha! you mean a kite, then?"

"Yes, one with a very broad breast, a very thin body, and a very long tail: such as you and I used to make not so many years ago."

"A _paper kite_," said Karl, repeating the phrase mechanically, at the same time settling down, into a reflecting att.i.tude. "True, brother,"

he added, after a pause; "there might be something in what you have suggested. If we had a paper kite--that is, a very large one--it is possible it would carry a rope over the summit of the cliff; but, alas!--"

"You need not proceed further, Karl," said Caspar, interrupting him. "I know what you are going to say: that we have no paper out of which to make the kite; and that, of course, puts an end to the matter. It's no use our thinking any more about it: since we have not got the materials.

The body and bones we could easily construct; and the tail too. But then the wings--ah, the wings. I only wish we had a file of old newspapers. But what's the use of wis.h.i.+ng? We haven't."

Karl, though silent, did not seem to hear, or at all events heed, what Caspar had been just saying. He appeared to be buried either in a reverie, or in some profound speculation.

It was the latter: as was very soon after made manifest by his speech.

"Perhaps," said he, with a hopeful glance towards the wood, "we may not be so deficient in the material of which you have spoken."

"Of paper, do you mean?"

"We are in the very region of the world where it grows," continued Karl, without heeding the interrogation.

"What! where paper _grows_?"

"No," replied Karl, "I do not mean that the paper itself grows here; but a `fabric' out of which that useful article may be made."

"What is that, brother?"

"It is a tree, or rather a shrub, belonging to the order of the _Thymelaceae_, or `Daphnads.' The plants of this order are found in many countries; but chiefly in the cooler regions of India and South America. There are even representatives of the order in England: for the beautiful `spurge laurel' of the woods and hedges--known as a remedy for the toothache--is a true daphnad. Perhaps the most curious of all the Thymelaceae is the celebrated Lagetta, or lace-bark tree of Jamaica; out of which the ladies of that island know how to manufacture cuffs, collars, and berthas, that, when cut into the proper shapes, and bleached to a perfect whiteness, have all the appearance of real lace!

The Maroons, and other runaway negroes of Jamaica, before the abolition of slavery, used to make clothing out of the lagetta; which they found growing in plenty in the mountain forests of the island. Previous also to the same abolition of slavery, there was another, and less gentle, use made of the lace-bark, by the masters of these same negroes. The cruel tyrants used to spin its tough fibres into thongs for their slave-whips."

"And you think that paper can be made out of these trees?" asked Caspar, impatient to know whether there might be any chance of procuring some for the covering of a kite.

"There are several species of daphnads," replied the botanist, "whose bark can be converted into paper. Some are found at the Cape of Good Hope, and others in the island of Madagascar; but the best kinds for the purpose grow in these very mountains, and in China. There is the `Daphne Bholua,' in Nepaul; from which the Nepaulese make a strong, tough, packing-paper; and I have reason to believe that it also grows in the Bhotan Himalayas--at no very great distance from our position here.

Besides, in China and j.a.pan, on the other side of these mountains, there are two or three distinct kinds of the same plant--out of which the Chinese make the yellowish-coloured paper, you may have seen in their books, and pasted upon their tea-chests. So then," added the botanist, looking wistfully towards the woods, "since the paper-yielding daphne grows in China, to the east of us, and in Nepaul and Bhotan to the west, it is but reasonable to conclude that some species of it may be found in this valley--where the climate is just that which it affects. Its seed may have been transported hither by birds: since many species of birds are fond of its berries, and eat them without receiving any injury; though, strange to say, they are poisonous to all kinds of quadrupeds!"

"Do you think you would know the shrub, if you saw it, brother?"

"Well, to say the truth, I do not think I could recognise it by its general appearance; but if I had a flower of the _daphne_, I could no doubt tell it by its botanical characteristics. The leaves of the paper-yielding species are of a lanceolate form and purplish hue, glabrous and s.h.i.+ning, like the leaves of laurels--to which genus the _daphne_ is closely allied. Unfortunately, the shrub would not be in flower at this season; but if we can find one of the berries, and a leaf or two, I fancy I shall be able to identify it. Besides, the bark, which is very tough, would help to guide us. Indeed, I have some reason to think that we shall find it not far off; and that is why I speak with such confidence, in saying, that we might not be so deficient in the materials for paper-making."

"What reason, brother Karl? Perhaps you have seen something like it?"

"I have. Some time ago, when I was strolling about, I pa.s.sed through a thicket of low shrubs--the tops of which reached up to my breast. They were then in flower--the flowers being of a lilac colour, and growing at the tops of the branches in little cymes. They had no corolla--only a coloured calyx. Now these characters correspond with those of the daphne. Besides, the leaves were lanceolate, velvety on the surface, and of purplish colour; and the flowers were of an exceedingly sweet scent--as is the case with all the daphnads. I did not think of examining them at the time; but, now that I recall these characteristics, I feel almost certain that the shrubs were of this genus."

"Do you think you can find the thicket again?"

"Oh! yes, easily enough. It is not very distant from the place, where we were so near fighting that fearful duel."

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Caspar, in reply to the significant remark of the botanist. "But, brother!" continued he, "suppose it should prove to be the shrub you speak of, what good would there be in our finding it, so long as we don't understand the process of manufacturing it into paper?"

"How do you know that we don't?" said Karl, challenging the too positive declaration of Caspar. "I am not so sure that we don't. I have read the whole account of the process, as given by one of the old writers upon China. It is very simple; and I think I remember enough to be able to follow it. Perhaps not to make fine paper, that one might write upon; but something that would serve our purpose just as well. We don't want the best `cream-laid.' Unfortunately, we have no post-office here.

I wish we had. If we can fabricate anything as fine as the coa.r.s.est packing-paper, it will do well enough for a kite, I fancy."

"True," replied Caspar. "It would be all the better to be coa.r.s.e and strong. But, dear Karl, suppose we go at once, and see if we can discover the trees."

"That is just what we shall do," replied Karl, rising as he spoke, and preparing to set out in search of the daphne.

All, of course, went together: for Ossaroo was as much interested in the result of the exploration as any of them; and Fritz, from within the hut, perceiving that they were about to depart upon some new expedition, managed partially to coax himself out of his ill-humour; and, sallying forth from his hiding-place, trotted silently after them.

CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

THE PAPER-TREE.

To the great delight of the party, it turned out just as Karl had conjectured. The thicket that he had spoken of was composed chiefly of daphne shrubs--judging by the appearance of the fallen leaves, and some berries that still remained on the branches, Karl believed them to be of this species. But the bark was also a characteristic: being exceedingly tenacious, and moreover of a strongly acrid taste--so much so as to cauterise he skin of Ossaroo's mouth, who had been foolish enough to chew it too freely.

After duly examining the leaves, berries, and bark, the botanist came to the conclusion that the shrub must be a true daphne; and so in reality it was--that species known in Nepaul as the _Daphne Bholua_--from which, as already stated, the Nepaulese manufacture a coa.r.s.e, but soft paper.

As soon as this point was determined to their satisfaction, they resolved upon carrying Caspar's hint into execution--by trying the experiment of a paper kite.

But for Karl's practical education--which had made him acquainted not only with the botanical characters of plants and trees, but also with their uses--and in some cases with the mode of using them--the mere discovery of the daphne would have availed them nothing. As it stood in the thicket, it was no more like paper than any of the trees that grew around it. Indeed, there were many others that would have yielded bark in broader flakes than it, and much more resembling paper: for that of the daphne, stripping off as it did in narrow pieces, looked like the last thing in the world of which to make a kite out of. But Karl knew the process by which it could be metamorphosed into paper; and without further delay, he entered upon the performance--the others placing their services at his disposal, and acting in obedience to his orders.

The knife-blades of all three were called into requisition; and in an incredibly short s.p.a.ce of time, some scores of the little trees were stripped of their bark--from their roots up to the lower branches. The trees themselves were not cut down; as that was not necessary. They could be peeled more readily, as they stood; and for this reason they were left standing.

Up to the hour of sunset did these "cascarilleros" work--with only a few minutes of interruption, while they went back to the hut, and ate a hurried luncheon of ibex-meat--and just as the sun was sinking behind the summit of the great Chumulari, they might have been seen trudging homeward--each bearing a heavy bundle of bark, with Fritz following gleefully at their heels.

The thicket from which they had taken their departure, gave evidence of the industry with which they had been working all day long. Over a s.p.a.ce, of nearly half an acre in extent, the trees were seen standing, each with its tiny trunk completely divested of bark: as if a whole gang of goats had been browsing upon them!

On reaching the hovel, our bark-gatherers did not desist from their labour. They only entered upon a new branch of industry: by becoming _paper manufacturers_.

It was after night; and they had to work by the light of their torches of cheel-pine, already prepared. But as these burnt with a clear steady flame, they served quite as well as candles would have done.

The first process in the paper-making did not require much nicety in its execution; and, moreover, it could be performed as well inside the hut as in the largest room of a paper-mill. All they had to do was to pick the bark to shreds. This occupied them the whole evening--during which there was much conversation of a cheerful kind, with a joke or two about oak.u.m-picking in a prison; and of this, not only the task in which they were engaged, but the situation in which they were executing it, did not fail to remind them.

When they had finished, they ate their frugal supper and retired to rest--full of the idea of continuing the paper manufacture in the morning.