The happy valley set

Chapter 3 - exploring the interior

Henry recovered from his mystery Illness. There was no western doctor to give him a diagnosis that made any sense, but a native healer seemed to know what to do. He spent hours dancing around him and banging his drum, which only served to give Henry a headache, but he also gave him a very sweet drink to sup from a round wooden bowl, which he found was very soothing, more soothing than any single malt he had yet tasted. Unfortunately the healer was very strict about the dose he received, no matter how much Henry wanted more.
He knew he had to go back to the interior. It was the most beautiful place he had ever seen! A garden of Eden in paradise!
He wrote to the English government back home and bought a huge slice of the island. He was going to build a house there. He would bring his wife and children over and they would make it a home. He would leave the army and become a farmer. He would grow wheat and barley and have his own herd of cows, maybe some sheep and some pigs.
Unfortunately before he could do anything with his plans, he had work to do. It was his job to meet three missionaries off the next boat. They wanted to establish a Christian mission on the island. They wanted to convert the heathens to the word of the bible, spread the good news of his life and resurrection.
Henry was no atheist, but he was no religious fanatic either. He would rather have nothing to do with these so-called do-gooders who knew nothing about real life. But then, he realised that one of the missionaries was a nun who specialised in nursing the sick and was bringing a doctor with her to establish a little hospital. A second nun was a children's teacher. A school would be of great benefit to the town. only one of the missionaries was an actual priest. He supposed that as more English people discovered this amazing island they might need one church. As long as it was no where near his land he did not really care.

Henry spent longer in the town than he wanted to, but when he left for the interior once more, Zenn was already a much bigger, thriving town. This time his expedition was much smaller. His aim was purely to see what kind of land he had bought. He hoped he'd not got too dense a jungle, or desert. After a week of trekking through jungle and over the mountains he learned he had chosen well. All his land appeared to be fertile grassland.
He chose a spot at random as a site for his new home and instructed the natives to build him a house, from some extremely basic pencil drawings. It was not too lavish, simply a kitchen, bedroom and sitting room, with options to extend later.
The house was made from materials they could find around them - wood, a little stone and painted grass leaves. Henry found it ideal. However, it was no good if it took him a week to get back to Zenn every time he wanted to top up his supplies, so he commissioned the natives who had built his house to build an access road back to town. Once the j7ngle had gone, he was sure it would only be a few hours ride on horseback.