It Was About An Hour After Sunset, And, Being
Dark, My Riding Ox, Which Was Being Driven As Too Weak To Carry Me, Fell
Into An Elephant Pitfall.
After much hallooing, a canoe was brought from
the island, which was not more than fifty yards from the mainland, and
we were ferried across.
We were both very ill with a sudden attack of
fever; and my wife, not being able to stand, was, on arrival at the
island, carried on a litter I knew not whither, escorted by some of my
men, while I lay down on the wet ground quite exhausted with the
annihilating disease. At length the rest of my men crossed over, and
those who had carried my wife to the village returning with firebrands,
I managed to creep after them with the aid of a long stick, upon which I
rested with both hands. After a walk through a forest of high trees for
about a quarter of a mile, I arrived at a village where I was shown a
wretched hut, the stars being visible through the roof. In this my wife
lay dreadfully ill upon her angarep, and I fell down upon some straw.
About an hour later a violent thunderstorm broke over us, and our hut
was perfectly flooded. Being far too ill and helpless to move from our
positions, we remained dripping wet and shivering with fever until the
morning. Our servants and people had, like all native, made themselves
much more comfortable than their employers; nor did they attempt to
interfere with our misery in any way until summoned to appear at
sunrise.
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