When all the men had gone, the turn of the women came, and of these
two or three hundred, who had been seated chattering and laughing
against the walls, would now come forward and stoop to pick up
the bags of biscuit laid out for them. Their appearance was most
comical when they stooped to their work, their prodigious bustles
forming an apex. At least two out of every three had babies seated on
these bustles, kept firm against their backs by the cloth tightly
wrapped round the mother's body. But from the attitudes of
the mothers the position was now reversed, the little black heads
hanging downwards upon the dark brown backs of the women. These
were always in the highest state of good temper, often indulging
when not at work in a general dance, and continually singing, and
clapping their hands.
After the women had been got off three or four hundred boys and girls,
of from eleven to fourteen years old, would start with small kegs
of rice or meat weighing from twenty-five to thirty-five pounds.
These small kegs had upon their first arrival been a cause of great
bewilderment and annoyance to the commissariat officers, for no man
or woman, unless by profession a juggler, could balance two long
narrow barrels on the head.
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