I have employed the Arab women to make me
a hunting-cap of the basket-work of dome palm, to my old pattern.
"August 28.--I have been busily employed in putting new soles to
my shoes, having cut up the leather cover of a gun-case for
material. No person can walk barefooted in this country, as the
grass is armed with thorns. A peculiar species, that resembles a
vetch, bears a circular pod as large as a horse-bean; the
exterior of the pod is armed with long and sharp spikes like the
head of an ancient mace; these pods when ripe are exceedingly
hard, and falling to the ground in great numbers, the spikes will
pierce the sole of any shoe unless of a stout substance.
"August 29.--Florian is very ill with fever. The mosquitoes are
so troublesome that the Arabs cannot sleep in their huts, but are
forced to arrange platforms about six feet high, upon which the
whole family rest until they are awakened by a sudden
thunderstorm, and are compelled to rush into their huts;--this
has been the case nightly for some time past.
"I find that the whole village has been trying on my new
hunting-cap, that an Arab woman has just completed; this was
brought to me to-day, thick with butter and dirt from their
greasy pates.
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