218 JOURNEY WTTHOirr MAPS

a hamper of rice and they cooked their own. As

usual there was no peace when we arrived. I was

feeling sick and tired. The scramble in the heat to

and from the waterfall had exhausted me more than

a long trek, and it angered me that, directly I sat

down, a carrier called Siafa came to show me his

venereal sore. He had had it for three years, he hadn't

shown it to the doctor, who could have injected him,

and I felt he might have kept it for a few more weeks

untended. But there was one thing I couldn't afford

to do, show my impatience or my lack of knowledge.

Daily after that I went through the farce of dressing

the sore. Afterwards I dosed myself heavily with

Epsom and went to bed; suddenly I felt hopelessly

tired of rats; we were no longer short of kerosene, so

I left my lamp burning, but it made no difference.

There were always shadows for them to play in. The

Epsom brought me out of my bed in the night to the

edge of the forest. It was almost full moon and the

huts stood out in a bright greenish daylight. It was

absolutely quiet: not a sound from the dark dead

forest. Every door was closed and the goats were the

only living things in sight, as they wandered sleep-

lessly between the huts. I thought even then that the

scene was beautiful, but the thought did not alter my

impatience to be gone. The spell would only work

after many months; now all I wanted was medicine,

a bath, iced drinks, and something other than this

bush lavatory of trees and dead leaves where at any

moment I might crouch upon a snake in the

darkness.