a half dozen ragged porters carrying official but battered painted
wooden kit boxes, or bags, or miscellaneous curious plunder; then more
troopers; and so on for miles. They all drew aside for us most
respectfully; and the soldiers saluted, very smart and military.

Under the broad-spreading mangoes near the villages we came upon many
open markets in full swing. Each vendor squatted on his heels behind his
wares, while the purchasers or traders wandered here and there making
offers. The actual commerce compared with the amount of laughing,
joking, shrieking joy of the occasion as one to a thousand.

Generally three or four degenerate looking dirty East Indians slunk
about, very crafty, very insinuating, very ready and skilful to take
what advantages they could. I felt a strong desire to kick every one of
them out from these joyful concourses of happy people. Generally we sat
down for a while in these markets, and talked to the people a little,
and perhaps purchased some of the delicious fruit. They had a small
delicate variety of banana, most wonderful, the like of which I have
seen nowhere else. We bought forty of these for a coin worth about eight
cents. Besides fruit they offered cocoanuts in all forms, grain, woven
baskets, small articles of handicraft--and fish. The latter were farther
from the sea than they should have been! These occasional halts greatly
refreshed us for more of that endless road.

For all this time we were very hot. As the sun mounted, the country
fairly steamed. From the end of my rifle barrel, which I carried across
my forearm, a steady trickle of water dripped into the road. We neither
of us had a dry stitch on us, and our light garments clung to us
thoroughly wet through. At first we tried the military method, and
marched fifty minutes to rest ten, but soon discovered that twenty-five