A MIDNIGHT MARCH. l6l 



the fording-place ; the heat had been increasing since 

 ten in the morning, when first we were brought to feel 

 its force. Having eaten little that day, I was weak at 

 noon, and experienced violent pains in the head. On 

 the river bank I halted and would gladly have slept, 

 but my boys urged me on. The water was only about 

 knee-deep, and I waded in ; half-way across, the 

 current nearly swept me off my feet, and I grew faint 

 and dizzy, and had barely reached the bank when I 

 fell to the ground. 



Beneath a guava bush my boys stretched me out 

 and watched while I slept ; and at dark they awoke 

 me and assisted me to a house. Here the kind mistress 

 attended me for nearly a week, until the fever had 

 somewhat abated, when, leaving my collections and 

 camping equipments to be forwarded by Meyong, 

 I took a coasting vessel from a near port for the 

 Caribbean coast. 

 ii 



