T H E W I N D i6i 



malaria but it was only the resistance heat of millions of cor- 

 puscles combating the acids of the mosquitoes' bites. Extreme 

 lethargy pervaded my being and for hours I lay still and 

 drowsed, stirring only to put on my dry clothes again and to 

 eat a tin of corned beef. The fever made me consume large 

 quantities of water; by late afternoon there was less than a pint. 

 Before the sun set I gathered up my two bags and walked a 

 short distance up the coast to a place where a bench of soHd rock 

 came down to the water's edge and where I was sure there 

 would be no mosquitoes if the wind failed. 



I slept most of the night on the hard rock and wakened 

 several hours before dawn to find that I no longer burned within 

 and that the swelling had all but disappeared. I also felt re- 

 freshed and physically able once more; my muscles were a little 

 sore from the unaccustomed rock but with action this stiffness 

 would pass. Best of all I felt more mentally alert than at any 

 time since the wreck; the slim diet of the past several days and 

 the distress of the night in the swamp together with the utter 

 weariness of two long days' marches in the heat had apparently 

 induced a compensating sharpness of nerve reaction. I am firmly 

 convinced from this experience and from two somewhat similar 

 episodes that the ancient religious customs of fasting and self- 

 induced privation have a sound physical basis for their origin. 

 The brain, normally moving in a smooth course, becomes stulti- 

 fied and requires a deeply disconcerting physical hardship to 

 burgeon it into full activity. Many of the truly brilliant de- 

 cisions of the old prophets came after periods of physical dis- 

 comfort and days of fasting; lest we consider this gross medieval 

 fantasy it should be remembered that even a certain man of 

 Nazareth subscribed to this theory and spent forty mysterious 

 days in the wilderness. 



No brilliant decisions, of course, came my way as I lay that 

 early morning under the stars but I did find myself more than 



