He Seemed Very Glad To See Me Again,
And Turned Out Most Of His Family And Relations To Make Room For
Me.
My troubles were not yet ended, as the two Filipinos whom I had
engaged to carry my food and
Bedding could not start till late, and
consequently lost their way, and were discovered in the forest by
some Negritos, who went in search of them about 2 a.m. Meanwhile I
had to lie on the hard ground in my wet clothes, and as I got very
cold a fresh attack of fever resulted. I had intended to start off
again about four a.m., but it was fully four hours later before we
were well on our way. I managed to eat a little before I left, our
rice and other food being cooked in bamboo (the regular method of
cooking amongst the Negritos). I here noticed for the first time the
method employed by the Negrito mothers for giving their babies water;
they fill their own mouths with water from a bamboo, and the child
drinks from its mother's mouth. In the early morning thousands of
metallic green and cream-coloured pigeons and large green doves came
to feed on the golden yellow fruit of a species of fig tree (FICUS),
which grew on the edge of the forest near the chief's hut. They made
a tremendous noise, fluttering and squeaking as they fought over the
tempting looking fruit.
We took five Negritos to carry the rice and my baggage - two men,
two women, and a boy. The women, though not much more than girls,
were apportioned the heaviest loads; the men saw to that, and looked
indignant when I made them reduce the girls' loads. As we continued
on our journey, I noticed that our five Negrito carriers were joined
by several others all well armed with bows and extra large bundles of
arrows, and on my asking Vic the reason, he told me that these Buquils
we were going to visit were very treacherous, and our Negritos would
never venture amongst them unless in a strong body. As we went along
the narrow track in single file some of the Negritos would suddenly
break forth into song or shouting, and as they would yell (as if in
answer to each other) all along the line, I could not help envying them
the extreme health and happiness which the very sound of it seemed to
express; my own head meanwhile feeling as if about to split. I shall
never forget that walk up and down the steepest tracks, where in some
places a slip would have meant a fall far down into a gorge below. If
Vic was to be believed, I was the first white man to try that track,
and I would not like to recommend it to any others. Deep ravines, that
if one could only have spanned with a bridge one could have crossed in
five minutes or less, took us fully an hour to go down and up again,
and I could never have got down some of them except for being able
to hang on to bushes, trees and long grass.
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