They had travelled for five days
along the coast, and had hardly eaten anything. They had avoided all
villages EN ROUTE, otherwise they themselves would undoubtedly have
furnished food for others, though there was little enough meat on
them. There were many different tribes in this neighbourhood, and
Monckton was far from satisfied as to the safety of our camp if we
were attacked. We sent off a canoe with Okeina men up the river to get
provisions from the Baruga tribe who had attacked Monckton the previous
year, and they now professed friendship to the government. The Okeinas
were friendly with them, but as they paddled away in the darkness
Monckton shouted out after them to give him warning when they were
coming back with the Baruga people, and they shouted back what was
the Okeina equivalent for "You bet we will."
We pitched our mosquito nets under a rough shelter of palm leaves, and
I lay awake for some time watching the light of countless fire-flies
and beetles which flashed around me in the darkness, while curious
cries of nocturnal birds on the forest-clad banks and mangroves from
time to time broke the stillness of the tropical night, and followed
me into the land of dreams, from which I was rudely awakened early
the next morning by clouds of small sandflies, which my mosquito net
had failed to keep out.
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