WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 173 



hundred and thirty, and the headache almost in- 

 supportable, especially on looking to the right or 

 left. I now opened a vein, and made a large 

 orifice, to allow the blood to rush out rapidly; I 

 closed it after losing sixteen ounces. I then 

 steeped my feet in warm water, and got into the 

 hammock. After bleeding, the pulse fell to ninety, 

 and the head was much relieved; but during the 

 night, which was very restless, the pulse rose 

 again to one hundred and twenty, and at times 

 the headache was distressing. I relieved the 

 headache from time to time by applying cold 

 water to the temples, and holding a wet hand- 

 kerchief there. The next morning the fever ran 

 very high, and I took five more grains of calomel 

 and ten of jalap, determined, whatever might be 

 the case, this should be the last dose of calomel. 

 About two o'clock in the afternoon the fever re- 

 mitted, and a copious perspiration came on ; there 

 was no more headache, nor thirst, nor pain in the 

 back, and the following night was comparatively 

 a good one. The next morning I swallowed a 

 large dose of castor oil : it was genuine, for Louisa 

 Backer had made it from the seeds of the trees 

 which grew near the door. I was now entirely 

 free from all symptoms of fever, or apprehensions 

 of a return; and the morning after I began to 

 take bark, and continued it for a fortnight. This 

 put all to rights. 



The story of the wound I got in the forest, and 

 the mode of cure, are very short. — I had pursued 

 a red-headed woodpecker for above a mile in the 

 forest, without being able to get a shot at it. 

 Thinking more of the woodpecker, as I ran along, 



