THE FIRST CAMP 
be cut at a point some distance down the hill, and 
it took quite three hours to bring up each of the 
heavier logs. When the roof was on we nailed down 
our floor, which was made of bamboo fixed to cross- 
pieces 6 inches off the ground. The material was not 
ideal, for the joints were never closed, and small 
articles used to fall down into the cracks. We 
made our door frame of axed wood and covered 
it with thick canvas. 
We had also to build our collecting verandah, 
which we placed on the edge of a precipice not far 
from the house. It had a 20-foot frontage, and was 
12 feet wide, with a division down the centre at the 
ridge-pole of the roof, which made it, properly speak- 
ing, two verandahs placed back to back, so that when 
the wind was unfavourable on one side, we could find 
shelter on the other. ‘The whole of the structure was 
raised off the ground on poles, and the boys had their 
quarters beneath. 
Such was our establishment at Dinawa. When 
we had finished it we began to settle down, and were 
able to organise the camp for work. A native boy 
called Doboi, from near Dinawa village, was engaged 
as cook, and we had also a water-boy, Matu, whose 
duty was to go down the hill, a tramp of three- 
quarters of an hour, to a beautiful spring whence 
we derived our supply. It was lovely water, for the 
declivity gave no opportunity for decomposing vege- 
table matter to collect. The well always ran clear, 
and, even at the worst part of the drought, did not 
fail us altogether, although its trickle had sunk to 
the size of an ordinary lead-pencil, and the boy had 
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