150 
From Birnam Wood to Bunisinane, 
inkling that his brothers looked infinitely more imposing in their beaiiti- 
i'ul feather ornaments. 
365. As two of the houses were already occupied by our people, there 
was hardly any room in the two others for the new-comer chieftains, let 
alone their women : posts were therefore driven into the large vacant 
spaces between the houses to tie up the hammocks on, and, so as to get ])Vo- 
tection from the scorching rays of the sun in the day-time, big liranches 
;m<l small thickly-leaved trees were bronght from the none too distant 
forest and stuck in around the hammocks. As soon as a new procession 
arrived and the salutation ceretiiony comi)lctcd, cacli luirricd to the forest 
and returned to the villagv witli such bouiilis and branches: it was a case 
of Birnam Wood marchinp, (o 1 )nnsiuai!<'. thongh it was nnnecessary to 
exclaim here u ith iMacbeth : — 
"Arm, arm. and out. 
If this, which he avouches, does appear. 
There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here." 
At night, luuxlreds of large and small tires that had been lighted, 
partly for driving away the mosiinitoes that luuT again installed them- 
selves, and partly for cooking the food, spread a really uncanny appear- 
ance over the animated and busy cam]! : one could see hundi-eds of figures 
enuM-ging from the dark veil of night and just as ^[uickly disappearing, 
^\ hile in other places again, large groups squatted on their heels around 
the fires, and the hum ot their voices, like the droning of the songs of 
others, came wafting into our hut like the murmur of a neighbonring 
stream, until the shrill notes of the flutes or the noisy beating of the 
drums called Reality home again from the realms of Fancy. Even after 
a few days the number of strangers had monnted up to 400. Indian hos- 
pitality demanded that the head of Torong-Yauwise should fnrirish the 
main sui)port during his guests' stay, to do which onr honourable old host > 
was often ])ut to his wits" end, while we could sympathise on seeing how 
the supply of nmize piled up in onr hut. was daily ijraduallv diminishing: 
for from morning till night they never extinguished the blazing fires 
under the certainly 40-to .~0-gallon pots in which were being cooked th'- 
mush of pounded maize and sliced pumpkin, that early and late formed 
their meals. Three or four old Indian women with big pot-spoons in the 
shape of paddles, took turn and. turn about in keeping the mess in one 
continual stir, to prevent its getting Imrnt, accompanying their labours 
with a monotonous rnm1»le and mnmble: at the same time big iieople and 
small would come up and dip theij- calabash-cups into the bubbling brew 
and take themselves off into the distance with their share, while others 
were satisfied with just pressing the bottoms of their cups into the stuff 
and licking off what sticked to it — it cooled more quickly this way. 
Eqnally disgusting was the work of another group of oldish women who 
were seated around several large vessels which were filled with the thin 
boiled maize brew that we had already made ar-'quaintance Avitli on the 
Cotinga. With their hands they were fishing out the corn-grains, not yet 
quite cooked, lying at the. bottoms of tiie pots, and putting them into 
their mouths, whence, after being chewed, they were spat back again, the 
