Then he saw that the chap was simply sorting over
big piles of broken rock, selecting certain fragments which he
placed in separate heaps. Not far away two assistants were pounding
these fragments to powder, using rude pestles, in great, nature-made
mortars--"pot-holes," from some river-bed.
It was this powder, beyond a doubt, that Rolla was using in her
work. To Smith, Dulnop's task seemed like a ridiculously simple
occupation for a nearly grown man, until he reflected that these
aborigines were exactly like toddling children in intellects.
Van Emmon had no trouble in making connections with Corrus. The
herdsman was in charge of a dozen cows, wild looking creatures which
would have been far too much for the man had they been horned, which
they were not. He handled them by sheer force, using the great club
he always carried. Once while Van Emmon was watching, a cow tried to
break away from the group; but Corrus, with an agility amazing in so
short and heavy a man, dashed after the creature and tapped her
lightly on the top of her head.
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