92 



HA WAIL 



[letter X. 



a baby, were squatting and lying on the mats, one over 

 another, like a heap of savages. 



When the man found that we were going to stay all night he 

 bestirred himself, dragged some of the things to one side, and 

 put down a shake-down of ptdu (the silky covering of the 

 fronds of one species of tree-fern), with a sheet over it, and a 

 gay quilt of orange and red cotton. There was a thin printed 

 muslin curtain to divide off one half of the room, a usual 

 arrangement in native houses. He then helped to unsaddle 

 the horses, and the confusion of the room was increased by a 

 heap of our wet saddles, blankets, and gear. All this time the 

 women lay on the floor and stared at us. 



Rheumatism seemed impending, for the air up there was 

 chilly, and I said to Deborah that I must make some change in 

 my dress, and she signed to Kaluna, who sprang at my soaked 

 boots and pulled them off, and my stockings too, with a savage 

 alacrity which left it doubtful for a moment whether he had not 

 also pulled off my feet ! I had no means of making any 

 further change except putting on a wrapper over my wet 

 clothes. 



Meanwhile the man killed and boiled a fowl, and boiled 

 some sweet potato, and when these untempting viands, and a 

 calabash of pot were put before us, we sat round them and 

 eat; I with my knife, the others with their fingers. There 

 was coffee in a dirty bowl. The females had arranged a 

 row of pillows on their mat, and all lay face downwards, with 

 their chins resting upon them, staring at us with their great 

 brown eyes, and talking and laughing incessantly. They had 

 low sensual faces, like some low order of animal. When our 

 meal was over, the man threw them the relics, and they soon 

 picked the bones clean. It surprised me that after such a 

 badly served meal the man brought a bowl of water for our 

 hands, and something intended for a towel. 



By this time it was dark, and a stone, deeply hollowed at 

 the top, was produced, containing beef fat and a piece of rag 

 for a wick, which burned with a strong flaring light. The 

 women gathered themselves up and sat round a large calabash 

 of pot, conveying the sour paste to their mouths with an 

 inimitable twist of the fingers, laying their heads back and 

 closing their eyes with a look of animal satisfaction. When 

 they had eaten they lay down as before, with their chins on 

 their pillows, and again the row of great brown eyes confronted 

 me. Deborah, Kaluna, and the women talked incessantly in 



