after admiring every thing we had brought
with us, (more especially our fowling pieces,
which were very beautiful ones,) they begged
a little tobacco, then retired to a distance
from the hut which had been prepared for our
reception, and left us to take our supper uninterrupted
; after which they placed all our
baggage in the hut, that we might be assured
of its safety.
It proved a rainy, miserable night ; and we
were a large party, crowded into a small
smoky hut, with a tire lighted in the middle ;
as, after our supper, the natives, in order to
have as much of our company as possible,
crowded in till it was literally crammed. However
annoying this might be, still I was recompensed
by the novelty and picturesque
appearance of the scene. Salvator Rosa could
not have conceived a finer study of the horrible.
A dozen men, of the largest and most
athletic forms, their cakahoos (or mat-dresses)
laid aside, and their huge limbs exposed to
the red glare of the fire ; their faces rendered
hideous by being tatooed all over, showing by
the fire-light quite a bright blue ; their eyes,
which are remarkable for their fierce expression,
all fixed upon us, but with a look of
good temper, commingled with intense curiosity.
All my fears had by this time subsided,
and being master of myself, I had leisure to
study and enjoy the scene; we smoked a
social pipe with them (for they are all immoderately
fond of tobacco), and I then stretched
myself down to sleep amidst all their chattering
and smoke.
But all my attempts at slumber .were fruitless.
I underwent a simultaneous attack of
vermin of all descriptions; fleas, musketoes,
and sand-flies, which, beside their depredations
on my person, made such a buzzing
noise, that even the chattering of the
natives could not drown it, or the smoke from
the fire or pipes drive them away.
Next morning, at daybreak, we took leave
of our hosts, and proceeded on our journey;
we had eight miles more of this thick forest
to scramble through, and this part we found
considerably worse than that we had traversed
yesterday. The roots of trees covered the
path in all directions, rendering it necessary
d 2