380 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XXIII— B.P. 
I am sorry to say few natives will give, unless well 
looked after; for such an idea as sheltering themselves, 
either by day or night, when they are travelling, 
never enters their head. Wrapped in a blanket, I 
have seen a creole snore through a perfect deluge of 
rain; and as to the sun, it seems to have less effect on 
their dark and sinewy naked shoulders than it has on 
the wood of the canoe itself; for I have stepped out of 
my chowpa and walked forward on the pretence of 
looking at something ahead, hut in reality to put my 
hand on their burning hack, as I thought * hut, to my 
great surprise, found their skin, instead of being 
scorching hot, as any one would suppose, quite cool 
to the touch. However, chacun d son gout; they like 
nakedness, I prefer a covering, and therefore I looked 
to the construction of my chowpa myself. 
First, three holes were bored in the top gunwale of 
the canoe on each side, about big enough to put the 
finger in, and three feet apart; then three lengths of 
good-sized tough parasitical vine were bent over from 
side to side, and well lashed, by its own tendrils, to 
the holes; for this same vine is accommodating enough 
to hang in festoons of all sizes from the trees; you 
may either make a selection of natural string, long 
enough and strong enough to do up a small parcel of 
unbaked corn-dough wrapped in a plantain leaf, or 
cut it down sufficiently thick to moor a line-of-battle 
ship. 
When the three rafters, so to speak, are bent over 
the boat from each of the three holes, a slight pole, 
generally cane or bamboo, is laid along the top length- 
