I was
nearly ready. Every vessel had been thoroughly repaired, but many were
so rotten that the caulking was considered by the English shipwrights as
quite unreliable for a long voyage. I had dragged the iron diahbeeah out
of the water, and had substituted new plates in many places where the
metal was honeycombed with rust. The plate that had been pierced by the
tusks of the hippopotamus was removed, as it proved to be very
defective, and could be broken through with the blow of a heavy hammer,
therefore it was not astonishing that it had been easily penetrated by
the sharp ivory of so powerful an animal.
When the diahbeeah was re-launched, I had her thoroughly painted inside
and out. In the mean time, I had formed a Robinson-Crusoe-like house,
comprising two small rooms, open on the river-side, but secured at night
and morning by simple Venetian blinds. The three sides were closed with
planks. I had paved the floor with the cast-iron plates of the steamer's
engine room, thus it was both level and proof against the white ants.
The two rooms were separated by a partition with a doorway, but no door.
I had not resided in a house since I first occupied the diahbeeah, ten
months ago, as the vessel was more convenient.
