188 TAKEN DOWN WITH FEVER. 



astronomical observations the longitude and latitude of 

 the capital, as well as the dip of the magnetic needle. 

 These labours were soon interrupted. They were both 

 attacked almost on the same day by a disorder, which 

 with Bonpland took the character of a debilitating fever. 

 At this period the air was in a state of the greatest 

 salubrity at Angostura; and as the only mulatto servant 

 they had brought from Cumana felt symptoms of the 

 same disorder, it was suspected that they had imbibed the 

 germs of typhus in the damp forests of Cassiquiare. 

 Their mulatto servant having been much more exposed 

 to the rains than they were, his disorder increased with 

 frightful rapidity. His prostration of strength was exces- 

 sive, and on the ninth day his death was announced 

 to them. He was however only in a state of swooning, 

 which lasted several hours, and was followed by a salu- 

 tary crisis. Humboldt was attacked at the same time 

 with a violent fit of fever, during which he was made to 

 take a mixture of honey and bark, a remedy^ much 

 extolled in the country by the Capuchin missionaries. 

 The intensity of the fever increased, but it left him on 

 the following day. Bonpland remained in a very alarm- 

 ing state, which during several weeks caused them the 

 most serious inquietude. Fortunately he preserved suf- 

 ficient self-possession to prescribe for himself. The fever 

 was continual ; and, as almost always happens within 

 the tropics, it was accompanied by dysentery. Bonpland 

 displayed that courage and mildness of character which 

 never forsook him in the most trying situations. Hum- 

 boldt was agitated by sad presages ; for he remembered 

 that the -botanist Loening, a pupil of Linneus, died not 

 far from Angostura, near the banks of the Carony, a 



