AN OLD WOMAN. 
275 
of the hills. When I get down into the plain I 
feel that I am inhaling poison ; a leaden heavi- 
ness hinders any enjoyment of the otherwise 
welcome intercourse with my friends. 
I mentioned to you an old ape-like woman 
who dwells in a hut by the stream. Quite a 
friendly relation became established with her 
some time after we settled here. She is very 
shy, and seems to have a reverential fear of H. 3 
but to me she confided her terror of thieves, 
from whose depredations she is kept in extreme 
poverty. She often goes away to friends in the 
mountains for days at a time, and it became a 
habit with her to leave her hatchet, her pot, her 
knife, with perhaps some heads of Indian com 
in a cocoa-nut — the whole of her more precious 
possessions—in my store-room ; and on her re- 
turn she was permitted to take a smouldering 
piece of wood from our fire to kindle her own. 
I have previously stated that women do not 
serve in Timor. I could only have one of my 
own sex by me, and it seemed to me that if this 
old creature would stay overnights, make fire, 
bring water, and take letters and orders to Dilly, 
the arrangement would suit better than any 
other under the circumstances. Before the cav- 
alcade departed she was summoned into the 
