Chap. II. MY ILLNESS. 27 



and jalap, as my medicine chest had been lost in the 

 upsetting of the canoe, a box of quinine only having 

 been saved. I was touched during my illness by the 

 great sympathy shown to me by the natives. The 

 most perfect silence was observed round the hut 

 where I lay, day and night ; tam-tamming, singing and 

 dancing were forbidden, lest they should disturb me ; 

 and the old chief, Ranpano, came and sat every day 

 for hours together by my bed-side. He very seldom 

 spoke, but his countenance manifested the anxiety 

 which the good old fellow felt. He would sometimes 

 say " Chaillie ! Chaillie ! you must not be ill while 

 you stay in my village. None among my people are 

 glad to see you ill. I love you, for you came to me, 

 and I have no better friend in the world." When he 

 went out he used to mutter words which I did not 

 understand, but which were probably invocations to 

 some spirit to watch over me. Old Ranpano had 

 some strange notions about spirits good and bad, 

 which I think were peculiar to him. One day he 

 took it into his head that he should die if he entered 

 my hut, for he had been told that some one having 

 an aniemba (a witch) had made a mondali, and had 

 put it under the threshold of my door, so that, should 

 he enter my hut, the witch would go into him and he 

 would die. 



No persuasion of mine could induce the old chief 

 to come into my hut, and after a time I got angry 

 Mdth him, and told him that he ought not to refuse to 

 come and see me. The good old chief immediately 

 sent for some doctors, who, of course, at once declared 

 that it was true that some one wanted to bewitch him, 



