I promised him, as soon as the stormy weather was
past, and his mother well enough to remove to Tent House, we would take
our pinnace, and set out on our little voyage.
We now approached the marsh, and he begged me to let him go and cut some
canes, as he projected making a sort of carriage for his mother. As we
were collecting them, he explained his scheme to me. He wished to weave
of these reeds, which were very strong, a large and long sort of
pannier, in which his mother might sit or recline, and which might be
suspended between two strong bamboo-canes by handles of rope. He then
purposed to yoke two of our most gentle animals, the cow and the ass,
the one before and the other behind, between these shafts, the leader to
be mounted by one of the children as director; the other would follow
naturally, and the good mother would thus be carried, as if in a litter,
without any danger of jolting. I was pleased with this idea, and we all
set to work to load ourselves each with a huge burden of reeds. They
requested me not to tell my wife, that they might give her an agreeable
surprise. It needed such affection as ours to induce us to the
undertaking in such unpropitious weather. It rained in torrents, and the
marsh was so soft and wet, that we were in danger of sinking at every
step.
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