The Two Mission Teachers Come In
And Make A Show Of Teaching A Child To Read The Bible.
After again
clearing out the rank and fashion of Buana, I prepare to try and get
a sleep; not
An elaborate affair, I assure you, for I only want to
wrap myself round in a blanket and lie on that plank, but the rain
has got into the blankets and horror! there is no pillow. The
mission men have cleared their bed paraphernalia right out. Now you
can do without a good many things, but not without a pillow, so hunt
round to find something to make one with; find the Bible in English,
the Bible in German, and two hymn-books, and a candle-stick. These
seem all the small articles in the room - no, there is a parcel
behind the books - mission teachers' Sunday trousers - make delightful
arrangement of books bound round with trousers and the whole affair
wrapped in one of my towels. Never saw till now advantage of
Africans having trousers. Civilisation has its points after all.
But it is no use trying to get any sleep until those men are
quieter. The partition which separates my apartment from theirs is
a bamboo and mat affair, straight at the top so leaving under the
roof a triangular space above common to both rooms. Also common to
both rooms are the smoke of the fire and the conversation. Kefalla
is holding forth in a dogmatic way, and some of the others are
snoring.
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