Read "The Shadow of the Past" by Ethel Mills online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The rondavel was curious rather than beautiful. It was built entirely on the native principle, save that it had a fireplace and properly constructed chimney. In the centre four uprights of timber supported the roof -- young trees which had been felled and barked under Nel's supervision. The roof was of wattle and reed, the thatching of which had been done entirely by native women because in Nel's opinion they understood the work thoroughly. The mud floor, smooth and of a perfect evenness, was subjected regularly to the unsavoury process of smearing -- washing over the surface with a weak solution of cow-dung. This is less unpleasant than it sounds, and is admittedly the best treatment for mud floors; it prevents crumbling and unevenness of surface. Upon the floor were one or two good skins. A curious curtain of strips of hide attached to the supports divided the hut into separate apartments. Nel held aside this reimpe curtain and disclosed his bed.
"When I go to bed," he explained, "I draw the curtain back; then my sleeping apartment is quite spacious."