184 On the trail of vanishing birds 



and next thing a dim light appeared. There were shouts and sleepy 

 replies, and Rafael and another younger man among the fishermen 

 aboard stripped off their clothes and went overboard, shoving 

 and pushing our heavy boat as far toward the beach as it would 

 go. With that they waded on ashore, disappearing in the dark- 

 ness. Shortly we heard them sliding a light canoe across the mud 

 and shoving it into the shallow water between us and the shore. 

 In this we were transported to the beach. 



There was a little cluster of thatch huts, the roofs made of 

 palmetto fronds, the walls of the tough sheets of fiber that are 

 stripped from coconut trees. In one of these, which had an open 

 front and served as a cookhouse, several figures were gathered. 

 When all the gear and supplies had been ferried ashore, Julio built 

 a fire on the sand floor of a raised platform against the wall, and 

 while water was coming to a boil in a large tin can, he set up a 

 soiled, cone-shaped drip bag for making the excellent Cuban cof- 

 fee. The mosquitoes were as bad as usual and I stood as close to 

 the fire as I could get, for they were less troublesome there. The 

 fishermen crowded around, but chiefly out of curiosity. They had 

 seen very few Americanos and stared at me with considerable in- 

 terest. They were all squat little fellows and strange-appearing, for 

 there is a good deal of Chinese blood in that part of Cuba. Al- 

 though I am of medium height, I towered over them, and one old 

 man with a cheerful, wrinkled face, scraggly beard, and lank white 

 hair, remarked that all Americanos must be alto. I explained that 

 where I came from I was what was the word for short? corto. 

 This brought forth many exclamations, and much discussion fol- 

 lowed. There were ten natives present, and eight of them (all ex- 

 cept Rafael, who always stood aside, and Julio, who was busy mak- 

 ing coffee) lined up, shoulder to shoulder, to see who was the 

 tallest. This one was then shoved forward and stood next to me. 

 The top of his head barely passed my shoulder. More exclama- 

 tions! By this time the coffee was ready, and when we had finished 

 it, Julio took us to another hut next door where we were all to 

 sleep. We lay down on mats on the ground, just as we were, in 

 our clothes, and Julio fixed patched-up mosquiteros over us. As a 

 result of this protection we slept soundly until sunup. 



