several huts outside which are used as bedrooms: I have chosen one of these; their roofs are thatched with palm leaves, and I notice white ants keep dropping down, so I must keep an eye on my things.
June 10th. Bathed last night with the husband of the Italian girl I noticed yesterday.
A lovely place for bathing and they say there are no sharks. We swam far out. "Do you notice," he said casually, "how the current has carried us below our landing place?"
With panic strokes I made for the shore, chuckling afterwards, to remember how eager I had been to reach land.
I like to look at the wooded creeks opposite: one longs to explore them all; the colours this morning amazing—I have never seen such blues and greens—such painted scenery. The seashore covered with tiny crabs that dash about and sink into their holes, their eyes high above them after the manner of periscopes, and their shells and claws a wonderful red colour. Everywhere the roots of water bushes sticking out of the sand like countless slippery stalagmites. I talked with the Italian this evening. She also has suffered from the country.
June 11th. A walk in the morning with the Italian along winding paths—rested under the shade of a mango tree, the sun glancing down between the broad polished leaves.
June 16th. To Mombasa to blow the organ for the Italian while she practises in the English cathedral.
I was there before her, and wandered about in its cool interior: read the memorial tablets and noticed how many young men had died, scarce any over forty. It was interesting being in a church again after all these years: I opened a dog-eared hymn book, but what sentiment it contained! After she had finished her playing she wished to find her priest, so that she could obtain leave from him always to practise in these heretical Anglican surroundings. We went to the Catholic church—a tiny building.
A black coffin lying before the high altar made me feel how much more real a thing was their religion. We were led by a nun to the priest's house. I waited amongst the roses in the garden while she spoke to the priest at the porch of his house.
