264	JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS
be able to strengthen myself with the intellects
idea that once in Zigi's Town I had been complete!)
convinced of the beauty and desirability of the mere
act of living.
The Edge of 'Civilisation*
It was supposed to be a seven-hour trek from Zigi's
Town to Bassa Town, the first stop inside Bassa terri-
tory. I was doubtful if I could make it without some
help from a hammock, so I took on two extra carriers
and my men hacked a pole to take the place of the
one I had discarded. I was feeling very weak, but I
hadn't enough carriers to let myself be carried all
the way, so I walked the first two hours and then had
ten minutes in the hammock and walked again. I
didn't like being carried. A two-man hammock puts
a great strain on the carriers and my men were
already tired by the long trek. One heard the ham-
mock strings grinding on the pole and saw the shoul-
der muscles strain under the weight. It was too dose
to using men as animals for me to be happy.
The villages we passed were all deserted except for
a few women. An elephant had been killed some-
where in the bush, I suppose with the poisoned spears
the natives in these parts shoot from ancient guns,
and all the men for miles around had gathered to
strip its flesh. To our surprise we arrived, in less than
four hours, at Bassa Town. I was glad, save that it
made the Coast seem farther away than ever. We
were two days now from Tapee, but the young native
sub-Commissioner here still spoke of Grand Bassa as
seyen days away. He was the only man in the place,