old-woman-cannot-see

Updated: August 22, 2026

The standing four-poster of the country offers only cross-planks covered with the thinnest matting. As the ancient joke of many a lugubrious African traveller says, it combines bed and board. Next morning, despite the chilly damp and the 'old-woman-cannot-see, as the Scotch mist is here called, our men were ready within reasonable limits.

Sir Richard Francis Burton - To The Gold Coast for Gold, Vol. II: A Personal Narrative