I was on the verge of tears.

Powders produced in those days were, compared with today's standards, of poor flowability and solubility, difficult to handle, dusty, and prone to misflavour as a result of degradation in the drying process.

The ladder was leaning against the wall.

The canoes that are in common use on the lake are of the most primitive and unstable type. They simply consist of a semi-cylinder, hollowed out of a tree stem, with the ends filled up with mud and grass. These canoes are called blotto or ballotto by the natives. […] They are of every size, from the child's blotto of ten or fifteen feet in length to the fisherman's craft of fifty.