THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 53 



we found no fuch tickling or irritation on our legs as we 

 had done at Loheia, probably becaufe the foil was here lefs 

 impregnated with fait. 



We obferved here, for the flrft time, three remarkable 

 circumftances fhewing the increafe of heat. I had carried 

 with me feveral fteel plates for making fcrews of different 

 fizes. The heat had fo fwelied the pin, or male fcrew, that 

 it was cut nearly one-third through by the edge of the fe- 

 male. The fealing-wax, of which we had procured a frefh 

 parcel from the India fhips, was fully more fluid, while ly- 

 ing in our boxes, than tar. The third was the colour of the 

 fpirit in the thermometer, which was quite difcharged, and 

 (licking in maffes at unequal heights, while the liquor 

 was clear like fpring-water. 



Masuah is very unwholefome, as, indeed, is the whole 

 coaft of the Red Sea from Suez to Babelmandeb, but more 

 efpecially between the tropics. Violent fevers, called there 

 ncdad, make the principal figure in this fatal lift, and gene- 

 rally terminate the third day in death. If the patient fur- 

 vives till the fifth day, he very often recovers by drinking 

 water only, and throwing a quantity of cold water upon 

 him, even in his bed, where he is permitted to lie without 

 attempting to make him dry, or change his bed, till ano- 

 ther delude adds to the firft. 



l t> v 



There is no remedy fo fovereign here as the hark ; but 

 it mult be given in very different times and manners from 

 thofe purfued in Europe. Were a phyfician to take time to 

 prepare his patient for the bark, by firfl giving him purga- 

 tives, he would be dead of the fever before his preparation 



Vdl. III. E was 



