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hills. It's duty not pleasure this time but will be good experience.

49th lost one of their boys a few days ago. Being a recent arrival I didn't know him. A native was taken by a shark the same day. Quite a few are employed to swim around the beacons & make underwater repairs. I wonder that more aren't killed. Sharks are peculiar fish. When we were swimming after dynamited fish a big school of sharks surrounded us & no one bothered about them. The native snatched fish from under their noses. Finally one of our party scared them away with a burst of rifle fire. The missonary said while there's sharks there'll be no crocs.

One young Lieut and myself made a second hike to Mirageda. 3 hours walking time. As per usual we were given a royal welcome. Though they drought has struck them hard, vegtables & milk were plentiful. You couln't find better hosts anywhere in the world than these busy people. When the rains come they shall be cut off from town by miles of
swamps.

My batman, a lad of 16 years, is getting a trick. He wrote me letters when too shy to speak, & signs himself "your son". I've trained him well too. He can grasp anything an average European would. His sister is school mistress at Burma. He is on my