Description of My Camp. 37 



On the 29th I transported all my goods from the village 

 to my new camp, as the huts were fairly dry, although they 

 were rather damp and chilly during cold nights. However,_ 

 large log fires soon dried them, and I was much more 

 comfortable here away from the rats, pigs, and dogs 

 which haunted the village. 



The air smelt sweeter, too, for a native village is a dirty 

 odoriferous place, not to mention the filth and dust that is 

 always blowing about. 



My camp had taken about a month to build, and the 

 labour necessary cost me j ios., and for this moderate 

 amount I had the following huts : 



i. One large round hut 45ft. across the verandahs. 

 2. One smaller hut (joined to the former by a passage). 

 3. One guests' hut. 

 4. Three boys' huts. 

 5. One kitchen. 

 6. One store. 

 7. Two labourers' huts. 



8. One goat and sheep hut (oblong and divided in the centre). 

 9. One fowl and pigeon cote. 

 10. One large shed for storing horns and skins. 



This certainly seems a lot of work, but the smaller huts 

 did not have much time or trouble spent on them, 

 except that I saw that they were strongly made and well 

 thatched, and I mudded them all, and put a coat of 

 grey mud on them so that they would all be the same 

 colour. 



When I came from Blantyre I brought a Yao man with 

 me who had come to ask for work. He was a huge fellow, 

 quite 6ft. in height and strong in proportion, and he was a 

 " gay Lothario " with the women and particularly fond of 

 native beer. 



This he used to buy with money and barter for meat, but 

 one day when I was out shooting he left his work 

 and, in sight of other men working for me, paid several 

 visits to a stand where I had stored a lot of half-cooked 

 meat. 



