Tea and coffee were things of the past, the very idea of which made our
mouths water; but I found a species of wild thyme growing in the
jungles, and this, when boiled, formed a tolerable substitute for tea;
sometimes our men procured a little wild honey, which, added to the
thyme tea, we considered a great luxury.
This wretched fare, in our exhausted state from fever and general
effects of climate, so completely disabled us, that for nearly two
months my wife lay helpless on one angarep, and I upon the other;
neither of us could walk. The hut was like all in Kamrasi's country, a
perfect forest of thick poles to support the roof (I counted
thirty-two); thus, although it was tolerably large, there was but little
accommodation. These poles we now found very convenient, as we were so
weak, that we could not rise from bed without hauling by one of the
supports.
We were very nearly dead, and our amusement was a childish conversation
about the good things in England, and my idea of perfect happiness was
an English beefsteak and a bottle of pale ale; for such a luxury I would
most willingly have sold my birthright at that hungry moment.
