- not the mule’s but the child’s – and
whenever she passed us she would
throw back the top of her head like
the cover of a black tea pot and
grin till her mouth almost met
behind. As one of the men said, if
her mouth had been two inches longer
her head would have been an island.
There was one particular ox cart in
which the little round black balls of
wool were piled indiscriminately like
potatoes. Like the Pleiades as soon as
you tried to count them they increased
& multiplied till you gave it up as a
bad job. I never could get beyond 13.
They took most unceremonious leave of
their homes & relatives sometimes. A lot
of women & children would be standing
open mouthed in front of a house &
suddenly one, seized with a sudden
desire for her freedom, would rush in
bundle up the bedding, clap it on her
head & trudge off by our side leading
by the hand some young Ascanius
toddling along like his prototype
haud passibus aequis. How they
managed to keep up with us I
can’t imagine but they did, somehow