The village consists of a main street, mud houses, thatched roofs
and three ‘open’ stores, a ‘cake shop’ and a drinking house. At the
store I bought leather sandals, straw hats, scarlet neckerchief, red
fringed sash, loosely woven scarlet wool material by the yard and a six
shooter. While thus absorbed an Indian fell through the doorway onto
the floor, drunk. His face was pathetically imbecile. He pawed the air
and emitted noises and grunts like a frightened animal. The Storekeeper
picked him up and led him gently out just so far as the cake store, and
he tumbled headlong into that doorway.
In the mire of the street stood two immovable oxen, a burro, dogs,
chickens, pigs and tied up a door was a black shiney nosed big eyed
gazelle, it had been lassoed and captured in the woods.
It was a great day. The villagers were at their doors watching the
packing of our stuff onto 16 mules; beds, matresses, stove, suit cases,
stores. One mule gave a tremendous heave with his back and started off
at full gallop down the street, scattering his pack on his way. He was
caught and a red handkerchief tied over his eyes, a noose tied round
his upper lip, and pulled tight, and he was repacked.
Dick rode a thin burro with a Mexican saddle and stirrups that looked
like tin cans, two Indian boys accompanied him: one to pull the
burro and the other to push it. With the baby parrot under my arm I
walked ahead of the cavalcade for two miles along the railway track.
We expected a good deal of trouble, but only one mule fell over the
embankment with a bed on his back, and had to be dragged up on the end
of a rope by another. How they ever did the journey down the rocky
footpath through the wood into the valley without mishap is a miracle.
But they fetched up at the riverside in perfect order and were there
unloaded, while a bridge was being built to enable the men to carry
the stuff across the rapids. This took time, but two palm tree trunks
eventually spanned the rapids to a small island, and from there a
dugout ferried us across to the big island, which is our camp.
At eight o’clock I went to bed dead tired, my bed was next to the tent
flap, tied back so that the moon could shine in upon me, and I could
look out and see the fire-flies. I fell asleep to the sound of water
falls that roar like a great mill wheel on either side of the island.