The old woman came
at length and certainly she did not seem a very pleasant jailor or
guardian; nor did she seem to favour the request of the chief to
allow us to see the girls, as she regarded us with anything but
pleasant looks. However, she had to undo the door when the chief
told her to do so, and then the girls peeped out at us, and, when
told to do so, they held out their hands for the beads. I, however,
purposely sat at some distance away and merely held out the beads to
them, as I wished to draw them quite outside, that I might inspect
the inside of the cages. This desire of mine gave rise to another
difficulty, as these girls were not allowed to put their feet to the
ground all the time they were confined in these places. However,
they wished to get the beads, and so the old lady had to go outside
and collect a lot of pieces of wood and bamboo, which she placed on
the ground, and then going to one of the girls, she helped her down
and held her hand as she stepped from one piece of wood to another
until she came near enough to get the beads I held out to her.
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