114 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



basket-work, filled with the essentials for our jour- 

 ney. In them they had stored yams, tanniers, and 

 " farine " of cassada, two bottles of native rum, my 

 blanket and rubber poncho. One of them also carried 

 a very heavy iron kettle, and the other a large cala- 

 bash. Why Coryet chose thus to burden himself with 

 the heavy kettle was explained by Meyong, who said 

 that the kettle was the only article of kitchen use 

 owned by his friend, and that he wished to display it 

 as much as possible in going through the Indian gar- 

 dens. When we reached the forests he would bury 

 it and exhume it for exhibition on our return. Nearly 

 everybody has some pet foible. Some display it in 

 neck-ties, others in gloves ; but Coryet's took the 

 shape of a pot of iron, black and battered. 



I forgot to add that each boy carried a great ma- 

 chete, or cutlass, two feet and a half in length and 

 two inches broad. I had grown so accustomed to 

 seeing them with this weapon that I almost consid- 

 ered it a part of themselves. Meyong also carried 

 his gun. 



There were but three things he cared for in this 

 world more than rum and sleep — his cutlass, his gun, 

 and his friend Coryet. Night and day they were 

 together. He did, I think, entertain a high regard, 

 approaching to love, for me, and he certainly feared 

 the priest ; but the consideration of other things never 

 disturbed his soul. 



We climbed the hill, and had reached the ridge 

 forming the semicircle that hemmed in our valley be- 

 fore the sun appeared. He came up from the ocean 

 with a bounce and darted at us hot beams ; but we 

 were then walking beneath tall trees, where he could 



