Immediately Above Was A Large Newly-Made Plantation Of
Yams And Plantains, And A Small Hot, Which The Chief Said We
Might Have The Use Of, If It Would Do For Me.
It was quite a
dwarf's house, just eight feet square, raised on posts so that
the floor was four and a half feet above the ground, and the
highest part of the ridge only five feet above the flour.
As I am
six feet and an inch in my stockings, I looked at this with some
dismay; but finding that the other houses were much further from
water, were dreadfully dirty, and were crowded with people, I at
once accepted the little one, and determined to make the best of
it. At first I thought of taking out the floor, which would leave
it high enough to walk in and out without stooping; but then
there would not be room enough, so I left it just as it was, had
it thoroughly cleaned out, and brought up my baggage. The upper
story I used for sleeping in, and for a store-room. In the lower
part (which was quite open all round) I fixed up a small table,
arranged my boxes, put up hanging-shelves, laid a mat on the
ground with my wicker-chair upon it, hung up another mat on the
windward side, and then found that, by bending double and
carefully creeping in, I could sit on my chair with my head just
clear of the ceiling.
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