It Was About An Hour After Sunset, And Being Dark, My Riding Ox,
Who 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 remainder 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;
we, being far too ill and helpless to move from our positions, remained
dripping wet and shivering with fever until the morning. Our servants
and people had, like all natives, 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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