>Thanks for the ocular advice, Glenn, you seem to have missed the point. The
>authors assume she WAS alone, and therefore in need of ANOTHER hominid to
>help. Slip on your own glasses and re-read. Here, I'll help:
>
><< Alone [see? "Alone"] unable to move, delirious, in pain, 1808 wouldn't have
>lasted two days in the African bush [UNLESS] [s]omeone else brought her water
>and probably food...>>
Hmm, here's the original:
The implication stared me in the face: someone else took care of
her. Alone, unable to move, delirious, in pain, 1808 wouldn't have
lasted two days in the African bush, much less the length of time her
skeleton told us she had lived. Someone else brought her water and
probably food; unless 1808 lay terrible close to a water source, that
meant her helper had some kind of receptacle to carry water in. And
someone else protected her from hyenas, lions and jackals on the prowl
for a tasty morsel that could not run away.
I think the correct reading is the second sentence is "[Had she been]
[a]lone, unable to move, delirious, in pain, 1808 wouldn't have
lasted two days in the African bush, much less the length of time her
skeleton told us she had lived. Someone else brought her water...
Had she been alone, she would have died or more likely been killed quickly.
She didn't, and the most reasonable explanation is that someone protected
her and cared for her.
Bill Hamilton | Chassis & Vehicle Systems
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