But with a variety
of uncouth gestures, he soon made us welcome; informing us, by the
same means, that he was both deaf and dumb; he then motioned us into
his dwelling.
Going in, we threw ourselves upon an old mat, and peered round. The
soiled bamboos and calabashes looked so uninviting that the doctor
was for pushing on to Taloo that night, notwithstanding it was near
sunset. But at length we concluded to stay where we were.
After a good deal of bustling outside under a decrepit shed, the old
man made his appearance with our supper. In one hand he held a
flickering taper, and in the other, a huge, flat calabash, scantily
filled with viands. His eyes were dancing in his head, and he looked
from the calabash to us, and from us to the calabash, as much as to
say, "Ah, my lads, what do ye think of this, eh? Pretty good cheer,
eh?" But the fish and Indian turnip being none of the best, we made
but a sorry meal. While discussing it, the old man tried hard to make
himself understood by signs; most of which were so excessively
ludicrous that we made no doubt he was perpetrating a series of
pantomimic jokes.
The remnants of the feast removed, our host left us for a moment,
returning with a calabash of portly dimensions and furnished with a
long, hooked neck, the mouth of which was stopped with a wooden plug.
It was covered with particles of earth, and looked as if just taken
from some place underground.
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