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154 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
back, and then soon arrived on the seashore; after this we returned to the sledge, and harnessing the donkey, turned homewards.
The next day the first thing that came into my mind when I awoke was the promise to try my hand at candle-making. After breakfast I asked my wife to make some wicks of sail-cloth, and meantime I put some berries into a pan over the fire. When I saw an oily matter rise to the top of the pan, I carefully skimmed it off and put it aside, still keeping it liquid and melted near the fire. I continued this process till I had collected a considerable amount of wax. Then I dipped the wicks one by one into it, and hung them on the bushes to harden. In a short time I dipped them again, and repeated the operation till the candles were the proper size, when I put them aside to cool. We were all eager to try them, and when we did so, we found they gave quite a good light.
This success made me think of something else, namely, to make butter of our cream. But we had no churn. I remembered, however, something I had read, and emptying a large gourd, I filled it with cream, and placing it on a piece of sail-cloth with four corners, I tied each corner to a stake, and told the boys to stand beside it and shake it. |
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