Whenever We Passed A
Negrito Hut We Took A Short Rest.
My Negritos, however, wanted to
make it a long one, as they seemed to be very fond of yarning, and
when I insisted on their hurrying on, Vic got frightened and declared
they might clear out and leave us, which would certainly have been
a misfortune.
At length we arrived at a chief's hut, where we had
arranged to spend the night. It was situated at the top of a tall,
grassy peak, from which I got a wonderful view of the surrounding
country: steep wooded gorges and precipices surrounded us on all
sides, and in the distance the flat country from whence we had come,
and far far away the sea looked like glistening silver. The flat
country presented an extraordinary contrast to the rugged mountains
which surrounded me. It was so wonderfully flat, not the smallest
hill to be seen anywhere, except where the lonely isolated peak of
Mount Aryat arose in the distance, and far away one could just see
a long chain of lofty mountains. The effect of the shadows of the
distant clouds on the flat country was very curious. Early the next
morning, at sunrise, the view looked very different, though just as
beautiful. The chief seemed very friendly. He was a brother of my old
friend, with whom I had stayed the previous night. This chief, however,
was very different to his brother, being very dignified, but he had
a very good and kind face, whilst my old friend was a "typical comic
opera" kind of character. From what I could understand these two and
another brother ruled over this tribe of Negritos between them, each
being chief of a third of the tribe Soon after my arrival I turned in,
as I was very tired and feverish and had had no sleep the previous
night. The Negritos, as usual, were very merry and made a great noise
for so small a people. I never saw such people for laughter whenever
anything amused them, which is very often; they were a great contrast
in this respect to the Filipinos. This natural gaiety helps to explain
their many and varied dances, one of which consists in their running
round after each other in a circle.
I felt very much better next morning, and we started off very early,
our numbers being increased by the chief and many of his men, so that
I now found myself escorted by quite an army. I took note round here
of the methods used by the Negritos in climbing tall, thick trees to
get fruit and birds-nests. They had long bamboo poles lashed together,
which run up to one of the highest branches fully one hundred feet from
the ground. They often fastened them to the branch of a smaller tree,
and thence slanting upwards to the top of a tall tree, perhaps as much
as sixty feet and more away from the smaller tree. These Negritos axe
splendid climbers, but it seemed wonderful for even a Negrito to trust
himself on one of these bamboos stretching like a thread from tree
to tree so far from the ground.
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