He Told Us We Should Now
Get Better, And, Perfectly Satisfied, Took His Leave.
The hut was swarming with rats and white ants, the former racing over
our bodies during the night and burrowing through the floor, filling our
only room with mounds like molehills.
As fast as we stopped the holes,
others were made with determined perseverance. Having a supply of
arsenic, I gave them an entertainment, the effect being disagreeable to
all parties, as the rats died in their holes and created a horrible
effluvium, while fresh hosts took the place of the departed. Now and
then a snake would be seen gliding within the thatch, having taken
shelter front the pouring rain.
The small-pox was raging throughout the country, and the natives were
dying like flies in winter. The country was extremely unhealthy, owing
to the constant rain and the rank herbage, which prevented a free
circulation of air, and the extreme damp induced fevers. The temperature
was 65 degrees Fahr. at night and 72 degrees during the day; dense
clouds obscured the sun for many days, and the air was reeking with
moisture. In the evening it was always necessary to keep a blazing fire
within the hut, as the floor and walls were wet and chilly.
The wet herbage disagreed with my baggage animals.
Innumerable flies appeared, including the tsetse, and in a few weeks the
donkeys had no hair left, either on their ears or legs. They drooped and
died one by one.
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