-7?~ 
We were all out in the back yard in working clothes this 
morning, bus2^ feeding animals, when a very dressy crowd of half- 
educated Bataks came through, immaculate in white duck, and 
holding handkerchiefs over their noses. If we went through a 
Batek kampong in the same disdainful way, there would be sbte.e 
sense to it, for the kampong s are fulthy; but Jennier and Davis 
accomplish marvels In keeping our place clean and odorless, 
considering the nu ber of animals we have, and how their cages 
vary from day to day. 
It ijits a great pleasure to have among our visitors, two 
Americans - the Banghams from Dolok Merangir. They were on their 
way to Wingfoot. One curious incident of the morning was that 
a Dutchman turned up, with some story about his coffee plantation 
in At jeh. He spoke no English, we spoke no Dutch. Both the 
Banghams and the Dutchman speak fluent Malay, but it wouldn f t 
have done to address him in the language one uses to converse 
with servants. Occasionally Mrs . Bangham would put in a 
Malay word, but always with an apology for using Malay to him. 
We lunched at the Coenraads* - split pea soup with all 
the Dutch trimmings. 
At four-thirty Bill left for Belawan, to meet the 
Brues 1 who are coming in to-morrow. I spent the evening and the 
night with the Coenraads, as the small town gossips around here 
might think it funny if I stayed in camp while my husband is 
away. 
May 24 - 
Back to camp early, to supervise the cleaning and furnish- 
ing of the room intended for Tommie and Beirne. I bought two 
sarongs for window curtains; they don f t match, and they are not 
the right length, but they lend T 'atmosphere Tf to an otherwise rather 
plain little room. Two cots, a table, a wardrobe, their own 
bathroom, a verandah with two chairs - after all, what more does 
anyone want in camp? 
Williams spent the morning here photographing. Baby bears, 
tigers, gibbons, props - all good subjects. 
Bill and Tommie and Beirne showed up about five-thirty, 
and it certainly was grand to see them. Bill had told them all 
sorts of wild tales about our primitive little hut in the jungle, 
and when they saw the arcaded magnificence of our Roemah Eakit, they 
were both impressed and disappointed. This is not their idea 
T 
The Brues es and ourselves started out in the morning, 
by car, for the nearest patch of jungle we have heard of. We 
drove three kilometers along the Eedan road, turned off on a dirt 
road which we followed for five km s . , and drew up at the house 
of a Mr. Mathew, a half-caste who has bringing us some animals, 
is Back of his house the jungle begins, and we walked along the 
edge of it for a mile or more, everybody busy collecting insects. 
Then the road turned and went straight through the jungle, bring- 
ing us eventually to a rushing little stream. Ants collected by 
