434 ACROSS AFEICA. [Cuap. 



My men were tlioronghly enjoying themselves, and there was 

 certainly some excuse for their indulging rather freely ; but I 

 was not prepared to find all, except Jumah, drunk within an 

 hour after their arrival. 



In the afternoon I went round Katombela. It is a small 

 place, consisting of about a dozen houses belonging to Benguela 

 merchants, a square fort with a few honey-combed guns propped 

 upon stones, a market-place, and some smaller buildings, such as 

 grog-stores. 



The only stone house was that in which I was being enter- 

 tained, and during a recent rising of the natives all the Euro- 

 peans had taken refuge there. The other buildings were of 

 adobes^ and whitewashed. 



Although Cauchoix applied carbolic acid to my mouth while 

 we were visiting the chefe, I found it impossible to eat any 

 thing when we returned to our quarters. 



From this time I rapidly grew worse. My tongue became 

 sb swollen as to project beyond my teeth, and blood ran from 

 my mouth. About two o'clock in the morning, Cauchoix, who 

 was sleeping in the same room, seeing how ill I was, and that 

 no time was to be lost in applying proper remedies, roused his 

 men, and, laying me in a hammock, hurried me away to Ben- 

 guela to obtain the advice of the medical officer there. 



When we arrived, I was unable to speak or swallow, and my 

 body was covered with blotches, with a variety of shades of 

 purple, blue, black, and green, the rest of my skin being a dead- 

 ly white. Dr. Calasso, in charge of the hospital, came imme- 

 diately to see me, and ordered poultices to be placed on my 

 throat and some solution to be injected into my mouth every 

 ten minutes, while the clotted blood, which threatened to choke 

 me, was extracted by means of pinchers. 



My kind host, M. Cauchoix, and the doctor watched by me, 

 never leaving me alone, for eight-and-fort}^ hours. At the end 

 of that time, thanks to those who treated me with such skill 

 and care, I was able to swallow a little milk, and the disease 

 had been conquered. Had it attacked me a day or two earlier, 

 when out of the reach of medical advice, nothing could have 

 saved my life. 



Now that I could swallow, I began to pick up, and progressed 



