A LOG-HUT. 347 



a wood-fire — tliej naturally wished to have a good meal, 

 and were now anxious to purchase a lamb for their supper. 

 We could not at the time understand their motive, which for 

 some unknown reason they were unwilling to explain, and we 

 naturally grew very wroth at the constantly-recurring halts. 

 After a long walk, in a deluge of rain, through dripping 

 fir-forests, we reached a log-hut, well-built, and fortunately 

 quite watertight. We were glad enough to find a resting- 

 place where we could get ofl" our wet clothes, and warm 

 ourselves round a roaring fire. Our rugs we generally 

 managed to keep dry, by rolling them up inside the mat- 

 trass, so we had something besides the ground to lie on. 

 Milk and cheese were procured from the shepherds, and 

 after an attempt to make a brew of arrowroot, the results 

 of which were not wholly satisfactory, we rolled ourselves 

 up in one corner of the hut, and enjoyed a tolerable night'.s 

 rest. 



During the evening we had some amusing conversation 

 with our men. We found that the names ' England ' and 

 ' English ' conveyed no idea to their minds, and that the 

 only peoples of which they had any knowledge were Rus- 

 sians, Turks, a,nd ' Eranghi ' (foreigners). After this it 

 was rather startling to be suddenly asked, what we con- 

 sidered the best form of government ? Moore shirked 

 the question by replying that certainly that form of go- 

 vernment could not be considered good under which the 

 people of one valley could carry off cattle belonging to the 

 inhabitants of another — an answer which, when interpreted 

 by Paul, seemed to tickle our fi-iends amazingly, and to 

 be considered fully adequate. 



July 27th. — The morning was fine, and we started hope- 

 fully. We were led by a circuitous track along the north- 

 ern hillside, owing to our men's ignorance of the direct 

 path down the valley. The forest comes to an end sud- 



