ISIDOR 301 



pipe, the big drum, the songs, and the dance. In spirit 

 he was at his old home on the Merevari mountains and I 

 was with him. Suddenly he would start up as if from a 

 dream, and saying a curt ' good-night ' would disappear 

 into the darkness to tread his way between the spectral 

 stumps to his hut in the centre of the clearing. 



On the 10th (June) a boat came from La Prision with 

 the news that Medina had returned from Puerto Antonio 

 Liccioni and had brought supplies. To Jacobson and 

 myself this was welcome news, as we were badly in need 

 of a change of diet, and this decided me on returning to 

 our headquarters, where we would be more comfortable 

 than in the wretched hovel we occupied at Mura. On the 

 morning of the 12th we left for La Prision, the Indians 

 having promised to continue collecting orchids for four or 

 five days more. 



For several days after our return to La Prision I did 

 scarcely any work, spending most of the time in my 

 hammock, overpowered by a drowsiness I had never 

 experienced before. Medina told me that this was the 

 result of malaria and that it was called tiricia. It rained 

 daily in torrents, flooding that part of the house where 

 our hammocks were slung and causing us a good deal of 

 discomfort. During the day the air swarmed with flies of 

 different sizes, which got into our eyes and ejected a liquid 

 producing a burning pain that lasted several minutes. 

 With the setting of the sun we had to take refuge under 

 our hammock-nets from the clouds of mosquitos that 

 invaded the house ; and even then, if we incautiously 

 allowed any part of our bodies to touch the net, we would 

 be attacked by them. On June 17 the Indians brought all 

 the orchids they had got together. It would not be worth 

 while, they said, to continue collecting, as plants were 



