A HOUSE-WARMING. 
249 
we were to let the house go without necessary 
finishing — without even a door — to have it any 
way to ourselves. On the morning of the fourth 
day, when at 10 o’clock they had still done 
nothing, we told them they must go ; the house 
was finished, we said. We paid them, and ex- 
pected they would instantly depart. But no : 
afternoon found them still seated, chewing and 
squirting. We could not understand what they 
waited for, and they wwld not heed our signs 
to go ; but about 5 p.m, a shout of joy, which 
greeted the appearance of a man descending the 
slope with a pig on his shoulders, explained all. 
We gathered that they would inaugurate our 
installation wdth a feast. 
Oh dear ! such guests for a house-warming ! 
They commenced to cut up the animal on the 
verandah, and made fire to cook it at the steps ; 
but the sight was so sickening that we gave un- 
mistakable signs that the butchery must not be 
carried on before our eyes. We gave them a 
second present of gin, and though they still 
grumbled that we would not allow them to bring 
o o 
luck within our walls, we managed to make them 
go about fifty yards from the verandah to divide 
the spoil, and to disperse to their homes to 
gorge it. 
