THE FIRST CAMP 
the house was finished; but during the ten days that 
the building was going on they were given occasional 
supplies of tobacco as a gratuity. The average wage 
per day was three sticks of tobacco, or one rami, which 
would mean about 14+ yards of scarlet calico. At 
the end of the time each man was to receive a large 
18-inch knife, or an axe, and a certain number of 
sticks of tobacco. 
For our house, we first drove into the ground two 
stout poles 18 feet apart. These carried the main 
beam of the roof. At a distance of 6 feet on each 
side of these poles we placed the corner supports of 
the house, each 12 feet high. The framework was 
then joined up with poles of unsplit bamboo tied 
with split cane, and the framework of the walls con- 
sisted of upright pieces of split bamboo set in the 
ground 1 foot apart. We then wattled these uprights 
with smaller pieces of split bamboo, the sides and 
gables of the house forming a complete basket-work. 
From the ridge-pole we dropped bamboo rafters ex- 
tending far beyond the walls, so as to give very wide 
eaves, and throw the drip of the rain as far out as 
possible. We were now ready to thatch the roof, 
and for this we required large quantities of grass. 
The natives by this time had gained sufficient con- 
fidence in us to allow their women to work for us, 
and accordingly I employed ten women as grass- 
cutters, and kept them for several days at work cut- 
ting with 6-inch knives, which we supplied. They 
had no distance to go to find sufficient grass for our 
purpose, but the procuring of heavier poles and 
bamboo was a different matter. The wood had to 
III 
