"INAGUA IS A QUEER LITTLE ISLAND" 6i 



lagoon and turned to the west. A mile or so away we could 

 make out the white dress of Ophelia bobbing up and down as 

 she scampered goat-like over the rocks. Although we had a 

 strong wind behind us we were so heavily laden we did not 

 catch up with her until we neared the huts. There we stopped 

 for a few hours while everyone turned out for another spree of 

 hog chasing. While the Negroes were in the bushes Coleman 

 and I took the opportunity to examine the settlement. A total 

 of six tiny dwellings nestled close together a few yards behind 

 the beach. The hut walls were of broken coral rock plastered 

 together with lime and neatly whitewashed with the same 

 material. The lime, we learned, was extracted from the coral by 

 burning. Four of the dwellings were thatched with palm leaves 

 tied with a simple but ingenious fiber knot on a lattice frame; 

 the other two were covered with grass and reeds. The doors 

 and windows were constructed of planks that had drifted on 

 the beach— on some we could still see the tell-tale mark of 

 barnacles— and were hung with home-made, hand-carved 

 wooden hinges. Total cost— nothing, except labor. None con- 

 tained furniture other than a rickety table or two made from 

 driftwood. The Inaguans, like most peasants in the out-islands, 

 sleep on the floor on grass mats which they roll up and stow 

 away in the morning. Here life was on its simplest terms. 



In time the crew returned, satisfied that the wild hogs had 

 the fear of man properly instilled in them. Once again we 

 raised the ragged sails and turned down the coast. As I settled 

 myself on the deck I could not help but marvel at the strange 

 shaping of events that placed us in precisely the position that 

 we had built the Basilisk to avoid. All our months of planning 

 and planning again had availed us exactly nothing; we were 

 again dependent on the natives and native boats. For a brief 

 time we discussed the possibility of continuing our voyage in 

 one of the native shells but when we saw that both ships had 



