98 WILD LIFE UNDER THE EQUATOR. 
My men killed one of the three fowls I had with me; | 
. others took off the skins from the plantains, while the 
rest were preparing to boil the dry fish which we had in~ . 
great, abundance, for before entering the Delta of the 
Ogobai we had gone on a fishing excursion. 
Our cooking implements consisted of a kettle for boil- 
ing the plantains, which, by the way, was getting to be 
much worn out, and my men were beginning to look 
forward to the time when it should be broken so that I 
would give it to them to make bracelets of; and two 
cooking-pots, one especially for my use and the other 
for the use of the men; I also had afrying-pan, but noth- 
ing had been fried in it since I had it, for want of lard or 
oil. Our entire cooking operations consisted of boiling 
or roasting over a charcoal fire. 
The two poor fellows with the snake had no pot to 
cook it in, my Commi men objecting strongly to have 
any thing of the kind cooked~in such a vessel. The 
Apingis were much downhearted, for they had antici- 
pated much pleasure from their snake-broth, the snake 
being, they said, very fat. They had on hand a little 
salt and a little Cayenne pepper. It would have tasted 
so good! So they had to be satisfied with roasting the 
snake over the fire. 
After our meal I opened my chest to get some tobac- 
co. This of course “ brought down the house,” and 
they seemed perfectly happy after their hard day’s work, 
for the poor fellows had worked very hard. 
They seated themselves round ‘theifires, smoked their 
pipes, and gradually one by one fell asleep. It was 
a fortunate thing we had musquuito- -nets, for I could 
hear these insects buzzing about in such a manner that. 
