. Round the black man's garden . natives hug;g;ed the ridit bank for fear of losingthe turning into the narrow river Maravoay, a tribu-tary of the Betsiboka. So near the edge, the waterwas in many parts shallow, and the paddles stirredup bubbles of miasmic gases, which were most up-setting. As we crept at funeral pace past thatunending; manOTove-covered bank, the hours seemedto be getting longer and longer; sleep was impos-sible, the maddening song of the mosquito for everin ones ear. It was like a bad dream, from whichone could not get away. I longed to get up andwalk about, or even shout at
. Round the black man's garden . natives hug;g;ed the ridit bank for fear of losingthe turning into the narrow river Maravoay, a tribu-tary of the Betsiboka. So near the edge, the waterwas in many parts shallow, and the paddles stirredup bubbles of miasmic gases, which were most up-setting. As we crept at funeral pace past thatunending; manOTove-covered bank, the hours seemedto be getting longer and longer; sleep was impos-sible, the maddening song of the mosquito for everin ones ear. It was like a bad dream, from whichone could not get away. I longed to get up andwalk about, or even shout at the top of my voice—anything to break that awful monotony 1 214 THE ISLAND OF MYSTERY. At last we turned a sharp corner, and found our-selves in the long-sought-for little river, up which,had we arrived only an hour sooner, we should havedrifted rapidly on the flood; but now the tide hadbegun to ebb just as we did not want it, and ourtired boatmen had a further struggle up stream,which lasted till two on the following Landing; at Maravoay. when the moon, suddenly creeping from behind acloud, disclosed the welcome hill of Maravoay. Itbeing now nearly low water, we were separatedfrom the shore by a stretch of deep mud, acrosswhich the simandou carried me on his back. Tiredas I was of the canoe, at one moment I almostwished myself back in it, as he sank deeper and MARAVOAY. 215 deeper, stumbling about till my feet ploughed upthe black slime, into which I fully expected tosubside altogether. However, with the help of twoof the men, we at last found ourselves on terrafirma. While they went back for Harry andMonsieur Martini, the simandou and I walked onto try and procure lodgings in the town, which wasabout a mile distant. We accosted the first humanbeing w^e met; and after a great deal of talk, hetook us to a narrow door in a high palisade, roundan open space, planted with mango-trees, in thecentre of which was a large two-storeyed guide showed us up a steep f
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidroundblackma, bookyear1893
