STRANGE GUESTS. 737 



dren, and dogs, their invariable companions. 

 The men alone landed, some six or seven in 

 number, and came toward the tent. Nothing 

 could be more coarse and repulsive than their 

 appearance, in which the brutality of the sav- 

 age was in no way redeemed by physical 

 strength or manliness. They were almost 

 naked, for the short, loose skins tied around 

 the neck, and hanging from the shoulders, 

 over the back, partly to the waist, could 

 hardly be called clothing. With swollen 

 bodies, thin limbs, and stooping forms ; with 

 a childish, yet cunning, leer on their faces, 

 they crouched over the fire, spreading their 

 hands toward its genial warmth, and all 

 shrieking at once, " Tabac ! tabac ! " and 

 " Galleta ! " biscuit. Tobacco there was 

 none ; but the remains of the lunch, such as 

 it was, hard bread and pork, was distrib- 

 uted among them, and they greedily devoured 

 it. Then the one who, judging from a cer- 

 tain deference paid him by the others, might 

 be the chief, or leader, seated himself on a 

 stone and sang in a singular kind of monot- 

 onous, chanting tone. The words, as inter- 

 preted by the gestures and expressions, seemed 

 to be an improvisation concerning the stran- 

 gers they had found upon the beach, and were 



47 



