THE WEB OF ISLAND LIFE i8i 



siderations. Even the dryness of a growing thirst and the threat 

 of an empty water bottle failed to penetrate the shell of my 

 shoe-consciousness. 



Never again shall I laugh at the Haitian peasants who, once 

 having attained the social and financial status of shoe-proprie- 

 torship, carry these precious belongings perched precariously 

 on their heads to the edge of town where they don them before 

 entering. Their shoes are too valuable to waste on dusty country 

 roads; the possession of footgear is their badge of dignity. Only 

 the very poor and the primitive have the misfortune— or the 

 good sense— to do without them. 



I sat down in the midst of the wilderness of Babylon and 

 pondered. What to do? I tried swathing my feet in lizard wrap- 

 pings, donning the canvas uppers to retain the gauze, but the 

 soft cotton quickly shredded to ragged lint. By walking bow- 

 legged on the edges of my soles where the rubber had not worn 

 through I managed to creep down to the water's edge near a 

 low spot in the cliffs. There I found a fragment of a water- 

 soaked plank and with my penknife whittled out two inner- 

 soles and forced them into the wrecks of my sneakers. These 

 made flexion impossible and forced me to walk flatfooted like 

 a duck. 



However, as though in compensation for the soreness of 

 my feet, the chffs ended as abruptly as they began in a smooth 

 stretch of level sand that curved northward as far as the eye 

 could see. The ancient sea wall did not reappear and presum- 

 ably vanished beneath the sea or terminated under the blanket 

 of rock. Instead a stately row of cocoanut palms lined the shore 

 for miles. These all leaned gracefully seaward and were laden 

 with nuts. Gratefully I twisted off several and sliced the tops. 

 The liquid was sweet and cool, and so intense was my thirst I 

 drank the contents of three in quick succession. Their juice was 

 the first liquid in over twenty-four hours. To make certain I 



