Weapons are Hidden From U?. 
75 
187. With plenty of noise and still more barking, the expedition finally 
made a move, while the fat chief, Tuma-Tuma, calmly rem'ained in Iiis 
hammock smoking a cigarette. At noon on the following day we reached 
Tuarutu settlement once more and no one expressed greater delight over 
it than Hamlet who had again given himself np as forgotten and lost. 
The effects of his agony of fright had still h'tt such marked traces on his 
previously smug countenance that none of his former ac(|uaintances would 
have recognised him in his present condition. 
188. The inhabitants of Tuarutu and its surrounding country having 
received word, had baked such a quantity of liread that we could decide 
upon continuing our journey onwards already by the following day, 12tli 
May, Init this had to be done in two i)arties. ^ly fever of late had l»een 
attacking me daily as badly as ever and th(^ nearest, i.e., our old, road to 
Tenette was the better for me in my weakened condition. My brother, on 
the other hand, wanted to cross the Takutn, and to return with Goodall 
along the eastern bank. In the afternoon I visited yet another settle- 
ment where I found the inhabitants at meal: they were devouring a 
Kaiman tail which, liowever, did not at all manage to Avhet my appetite. 
Among the peo])le feasting was a deaf mute, a powerful man of between 
25 to 30 years of age, who, while we were as yet hardly near the circle, 
quickly rose and somewhat clumsily tried to hide sever-al of the weapons 
in a corner of the house, a procedure which was unintelligible to us until 
Sororeng gave the explanation asked for. r>y some means or another he 
must have got to learn that we wei'e very keen on l;artering for these 
articles: and rather than be tempted now to prove untrue to his beloved 
weapons for the sake of a knife or something of the sort that uVight he 
offered, he had considered it more ad^^sable to put them out of sight. 
As an attempt at compensation for having made the deal for them im- 
]iossible, he tendered a large supply of tobacco (Cawai) for barter. The 
preparation of tobacco is quite a simple nwitt-er for the Indians, for they 
just collect the larger leaves, hang them up separ-ately for a few days in 
the shade of the house, and when they commence to become yellow, lay 
them lengthways together in bundles as thick as one's fist which they 
then tie up tight with bast-fibw. 
189. On the following mr)r-ning I left with Hamlet and several In- 
dians, whereupon the other party also took their departure. Hamlet, who 
now persistently kept second or third place in the row, at once recog- 
nised the spot where he had got off the track, and, showed it to us with a 
most miserable look on his face. 
100. On the 18tli ;May, we reached the crag where we had met tlu 
hunting party from Tuarutu, and a bad bout of fever forced me to choos« 
it for a camp: — but when it came to lighting the fire, it turned out thai 
Hamlet had left the last of the tinder-boxes at yesterday's camp. It was 
only the assurance of the Indians to help us (juickly out of the difficulty^ 
(hat could save Hamlet from many a sullen froAvn, for this was now th« 
third or fourth box that through his carelessness had been left liehind. I 
liad already often enousrh heard that ib.e Indians could light a fire with- 
out steel or stone, but the op]iortunity had always been wanting, of learn- 
ing it by experience. Just as we take our tinder-boxes with us, so did 
our compnnions carry two "fire-sticks ' with them. One of these pieces 
