But
the bears having only been killed the evening before, these skins had an
intolerable smell. I made them comprehend this, and Parabery immediately
carried them off and placed them in the brook, secured by stones. He
brought us in exchange a heap of moss and leaves, on which we slept
very well.
"From this moment we became one family. Canda remained with us, and
repaid to my daughters all the care and affection they bestowed on
Minou-Minou. There never was a child had more indulgence; but he
deserved it, for his quickness and docility. At the end of a few months
he began to lisp a few words of German, as well as his mother, of whom I
was the teacher, and who made rapid progress. Parabery was very little
with us, but he undertook to be our purveyor, and furnished us
abundantly with everything necessary for our subsistence. Canda taught
my daughter to make beautiful baskets,--some, of a flat form, served for
our plates and dishes. Parabery made us knives from sharp stones. My
daughters, in return, taught Canda to sew. At the time of our shipwreck
we had, each of us, in her pocket, a morocco housewife, with a store of
needles and thread. By means of these we had mended our linen, and we
now made dresses of palm-leaves. The bear-skins, washed in the stream,
and thoroughly dried in the burning sun, have been very useful to us in
the cold and rainy season.
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