Mr. G. also brings an additional mule and pack-
horse, so that our equipment is complete, except in the matter of
cruppers, which we have been obliged to make for ourselves out of
goats' hair rope, and old stockings. If Mr. G. has an eye for the
picturesque, he must have been gratified as he came in from the fog
and darkness into the grass room, with the flaring fire in the
middle, the rifles gleaming on the wall, the two men in very rough
clothing, and myself huddled up in a blanket sitting on the floor,
where my friend was very glad to join us.
Mr. Green has brought nothing but tea from Kapapala, but Gandle has
made some excellent rolls, besides feasting us on stewed fowl,
dough-nuts, and milk! Little comfort is promised for to-night, as
Gandle says with a twinkle of kindly malice in his eye, that we
shall not "get a wink of sleep, for the place swarms with fleas."
They are a great pest of the colder regions of the islands, and like
all other nuisances, are said to have been imported! Gandle and the
other man have entertained us with the misfortunes of our
predecessors, on which they seem to gloat with ill-omened
satisfaction.
I.L.B.
LETTER XXIX.
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