companions by the terror of this prestigious voyage, the thirst which tortured us, our fresh water supplies having been exhausted thirty-six hours previously, the despair which had more or less gripped all of us, apart from just one, the indomitable Nasias, and finally by I know not what savage enthusiasm for the peril braved and vanquished.
Wet, broken, too tired to feel hunger, we threw ourselves onto the dark shore without asking ourselves if we were on a reef or on solid ground, and we spent more than an hour like this without speaking, without sleeping, without thinking of anything, occasionally laughing in a stupid manner, then falling back into a fearful silence beside the furious wave which covered us with sand and foam.
Nasias had disappeared, and I alone had noticed his absence; but suddenly the sea lit up with sparkling fires, and we saw the splendid boreal crown form at the zenith; we were inundated as if enveloped by its immense irradiation.
To your feet! shouted Nasias’s voice above our heads. Here! here! Come, climb up, accommodation and feasting await you!
We were suddenly brought back to life, and we slowly climbed a short ravine, which brought us into a narrow valley filled with unknown trees and grasses. A myriad birds flew around Nasias, who had found their nests on a rocky ledge and filled his robe with eggs of all sizes. They ranged from ones the size of a roc’s eggs to those the size of a goldcrest’s. To this feast were added samples of magnificent fruits, and, showing us the trees and the bushes where he had gathered them:
Go, he said, make your own harvest too. You may confidently eat this flavoursome produce, which I have already tested upon myself; there are no poisons here.
So saying, he bent down, tore up a handful of dried grasses with which he stuffed his pipe, and calmly began to smoke, spreading around us exquisitely scented puffs of smoke, while we were stilling our hunger and thirst by eating the most delicate eggs and the most agreeable fruits.
It would have been easy for us to feast on meat, as the birds were just as lacking in timidity as those on the Kennedy islet; but no one thought of that at first, so great was our initial hunger. When it was satisfied our Eskimos, who had learned foresight by dint of dangers and terrors , wanted to wring the necks of these poor birds, which reproached us with eloquent cries for the theft of their eggs. This time, Nasias was energetically opposed to the murder.
My friends, he said, here one does not kill; you must take that as read. The earth produces in abundance all that is necessary to man, and man has no enemies here, unless he makes them.
I do not know if our companions understood this admonition, which I judged excellent; overcome by sleep, they fell asleep on the ground, which was made up of a fine dusting of talc. I followed suit, for I did not have the superhuman strength of Nasias, who left us and did not reappear until daylight came.
IV
W HEN HE AWOKE ME , I was very surprised not to find any of my companions around me.
I no longer had need of them, he told me calmly, I sent them away.
Sent them away? I cried out, stunned. But where to? How? By what means?
What does it matter to you? he replied with a snigger; surely you cannot be interested in those coarse, voracious and stupid individuals?
Yes indeed, as much as and more, to be sure, than in faithful and submissive domestic animals. Those ten men and the two we lost when we landed here were the elite of our troop; they showed great courage and patience. I was beginning to understand their language, to become accustomed to their costumes, and even those of them who scarcely had human faces harboured truly human feelings. Tell me, Uncle, where have you sent them? This land is doubtless an Eden where they can wander with nothing to fear.
This land, replied Nasias, is an Eden that I am in no way planning to share with beings that are unworthy of possessing it. Those
Wet, broken, too tired to feel hunger, we threw ourselves onto the dark shore without asking ourselves if we were on a reef or on solid ground, and we spent more than an hour like this without speaking, without sleeping, without thinking of anything, occasionally laughing in a stupid manner, then falling back into a fearful silence beside the furious wave which covered us with sand and foam.
Nasias had disappeared, and I alone had noticed his absence; but suddenly the sea lit up with sparkling fires, and we saw the splendid boreal crown form at the zenith; we were inundated as if enveloped by its immense irradiation.
To your feet! shouted Nasias’s voice above our heads. Here! here! Come, climb up, accommodation and feasting await you!
We were suddenly brought back to life, and we slowly climbed a short ravine, which brought us into a narrow valley filled with unknown trees and grasses. A myriad birds flew around Nasias, who had found their nests on a rocky ledge and filled his robe with eggs of all sizes. They ranged from ones the size of a roc’s eggs to those the size of a goldcrest’s. To this feast were added samples of magnificent fruits, and, showing us the trees and the bushes where he had gathered them:
Go, he said, make your own harvest too. You may confidently eat this flavoursome produce, which I have already tested upon myself; there are no poisons here.
So saying, he bent down, tore up a handful of dried grasses with which he stuffed his pipe, and calmly began to smoke, spreading around us exquisitely scented puffs of smoke, while we were stilling our hunger and thirst by eating the most delicate eggs and the most agreeable fruits.
It would have been easy for us to feast on meat, as the birds were just as lacking in timidity as those on the Kennedy islet; but no one thought of that at first, so great was our initial hunger. When it was satisfied our Eskimos, who had learned foresight by dint of dangers and terrors , wanted to wring the necks of these poor birds, which reproached us with eloquent cries for the theft of their eggs. This time, Nasias was energetically opposed to the murder.
My friends, he said, here one does not kill; you must take that as read. The earth produces in abundance all that is necessary to man, and man has no enemies here, unless he makes them.
I do not know if our companions understood this admonition, which I judged excellent; overcome by sleep, they fell asleep on the ground, which was made up of a fine dusting of talc. I followed suit, for I did not have the superhuman strength of Nasias, who left us and did not reappear until daylight came.
IV
W HEN HE AWOKE ME , I was very surprised not to find any of my companions around me.
I no longer had need of them, he told me calmly, I sent them away.
Sent them away? I cried out, stunned. But where to? How? By what means?
What does it matter to you? he replied with a snigger; surely you cannot be interested in those coarse, voracious and stupid individuals?
Yes indeed, as much as and more, to be sure, than in faithful and submissive domestic animals. Those ten men and the two we lost when we landed here were the elite of our troop; they showed great courage and patience. I was beginning to understand their language, to become accustomed to their costumes, and even those of them who scarcely had human faces harboured truly human feelings. Tell me, Uncle, where have you sent them? This land is doubtless an Eden where they can wander with nothing to fear.
This land, replied Nasias, is an Eden that I am in no way planning to share with beings that are unworthy of possessing it. Those
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