70 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



and usually acceptable as to quality and cooking. 

 In the little palm shacks or bohios, without floor 

 or furniture or comforts of any sort, where grim 

 poverty has hung out its ragged sign, hospitality 

 awaits a stranger. Knowing that in some cases 

 no remuneration would be accepted for food, our 

 bag always contained certain knickknacks for the 

 children. On one occasion after a serving of 

 coffee when a dollar had been surreptitiously given 

 a child, and we were quite a mile away, the father 

 came running breathlessly after us to return the 

 money. 



Leaving open water, the auxiliary entered a 

 muddy river winding about a jungle of mangroves 

 and landed us at the mining company's dock, its 

 point of shipment for ore. A little settlement at 

 the landing is forlorn beyond description. It is 

 planted in the most unhealthy-looking site imagin- 

 able and is still in the makeshift state of newness, 

 evidenced by unpainted rough boards, and deep 

 sticky mud. A species of huge horsefly with the 

 bite of a cobra assailed us as we awaited our team 

 for the trip to the mine eleven miles inland. All 

 about are swamps of oozy black mud and button- 

 wood trees. Bubbles of gas from decaying vegeta- 



