194 JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS

they arrived, and I could foresee a long series of
angry complaints. But I wouldn't consent to stay at
Pala, (that would be to delay our arrival at Ganta too
long), so I didn't wait for all the carriers to arrive, to
get together and rebel, but walked off with a guide,
the hammock-men and Amedoo.

We went for more than three hours without pass-
ing a village, and the path was wide enough for the
sun to scorch us incessantly; for lunch we had to
make a clearing with swords in the bush itself to
gain enough shade. But in the small village we
reached at last I learnt to my relief of a town not
more than an hour and a half away. The village
chief was hospitable, bringing out gourds of pakn
wine for my carriers to drink, and I did not notice
in time his unwillingness to offer his hand. Only after
I had put out my own and he had reluctantly taken
it did I see that it was covered with white sores. It
may not have been leprosy, and in any case leprosy
is only very slightly contagious, but it spoilt my food
for me all that day.

I never knew the name of the place we reached. It
cannot have been Bamou, for we must have left that
path. It had a guest-house in a little enclosure just
outside the town. The chief was sullen and inhospit-
able, he wouldn't provide a cooked meal for the
carriers, nor would he allow them to sleep in the
town. He said they would cause trouble there. I
bought rice from him at the highest rate I had yet
paid and he left again with his headman and a little
train of disapproving ancients.

The air was heavy with thunder. The carriers felt
ifc-as they lay about in the verandah. I sat listening