He already sees the principal part of his
frame; the myrtles will remain in their places, their roots serving as
a foundation. He removes the shrubs, the plants, the brushwood from
the thicket, leaving only a heliotrope which, at a later period, may
twine around his house and at evening shed its perfumes. He has become
reconciled to its fragrance. He trims the trees, cuts off their tops
eight feet above the ground, leaving the middle one, which is to
sustain the roof, a foot higher; for this roof reeds and palm-leaves
furnish all the materials. The walls, made of a solid network of young
branches interwoven, and plastered with a mixture of sand, clay, and
chopped rushes, he takes care not to build quite to the top, but to
leave between them and the roof a little space, where the air can
circulate freely through a light trellis formed of branches of the
blue willow.
Then, having finished his work in less than a fortnight, he
contemplates it and admires it; Marimonda herself seems to share in
his admiration, and in her joy climbing up the new building, she
begins to leap, to dance on the roof of foliage, which bears her, and
thus gives to Selkirk an additional triumph.
He now proceeds to furnish his palace; he transports thither his bed
of reeds and his goatskin coverings.
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