155 
CHAPTER XII, 
RITABEL TENIMBER CHILDREN FEVER — HAIRDRESSING — 
NATIVE INQUISITIVENESS TENIMBER WOMEN — CLOTH- 
M AK I NG M A RRIAGES, 
The Ritabel villagers seem perfectly well-dis- 
posed towards us, and without fear or suspicion* 
I was soon welcomed among them, and am al- 
lowed to carry the babies, — good, interesting 
little creatures, profusely adorned with heads, 
and with their little limbs encased in a perfect 
buckler of shell bracelets : they wear a lighter 
shade of the chocolate skin which adorns their 
parents. I like to wander through the irregular 
paths intersecting the village, at sundown, when 
they are preparing the evening meal. Many of the 
mothers and maidens are stamping the Indian 
corn by the eaves, the fathers carry the infants, 
the young men dance on the shore, and the shout 
of the children at play rings through the village. 
