Early next morning we began to load our raft.
We began by entirely stripping our own cabin and that of the captain. We
carried away even the doors and windows. The chests of the carpenter and
the gunner followed. There were cases of rich jewellery, and caskets of
money, which at first tempted us, but were speedily relinquished for
objects of real utility. I preferred a case of young plants of European
fruits, carefully packed in moss for transportation. I saw, with
delight, among these precious plants, apple, pear, plum, orange,
apricot, peach, almond, and chesnut trees, and some young shoots of
vines. How I longed to plant these familiar trees of home in a foreign
soil. We secured some bars of iron and pigs of lead, grindstones,
cart-wheels ready for mounting, tongs, shovels, plough-shares, packets
of copper and iron wire, sacks of maize, peas, oats, and vetches; and
even a small hand-mill. The vessel had been, in fact, laden with
everything likely to be useful in a new colony. We found a saw-mill in
pieces, but marked, so that it could be easily put together. It was
difficult to select, but we took as much as was safe on the raft, adding
a large fishing-net and the ship's compass. Fritz begged to take the
harpoons, which he hung by the ropes over the bow of our boat; and I
indulged his fancy.
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