The Ground
Was As Thickly Covered With Dry Leaves As It Is In An English
Wood In November; The Little Rocky Streams Were All Dry, And
Scarcely A Drop Of Water Or Even A Damp Place Was Anywhere To Be
Seen.
About fifty yards below my house, at the foot of the hill,
was a deep hole in a watercourse where good water was to be had,
and where I went daily to bathe by having buckets of water taken
out and pouring it over my body.
My host Mr. M. enjoyed a thoroughly country life, depending
almost entirely on his gun and dogs to supply his table. Wild
pigs of large size were very plentiful and he generally got one
or two a week, besides deer occasionally, and abundance of
jungle-fowl, hornbills, and great fruit pigeons. His buffaloes
supplied plenty of milk from which he made his own butter; he
grew his own rice and coffee, and had ducks, fowls, and their
eggs, in profusion. His palm-trees supplied him all the year round
with "sagueir," which takes the place of beer; and the sugar made
from them is an excellent sweetmeat. All the fine tropical
vegetables and fruits were abundant in their season, and his
cigars were made from tobacco of his own raising. He kindly sent
me a bamboo of buffalo-milk every morning; it was as thick as
cream, and required diluting with water to keep it fluid during
the day. It mixes very well with tea and coffee, although it has
a slight peculiar flavour, which after a time is not
disagreeable.
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