EFFECTS OF CLIMATE.. 73 



attacked, the natives might not be able to take 

 their aim. 



It was a subject of remark among us, and 

 occasioned some amusement, to see the different 

 effects of heat on different constitutions. Some- 

 times, with the thermometer at 84, I felt cold in 

 a blanket dress; and at other times,-when it was 

 75, I was oppressed with the heat : — it appeared, 

 however, to depend much on the moist or dry 

 state of the atmosphere. I found that a very 

 simple rule had hitherto kept me in excellent 

 health : if I felt sleepy after a meal, I considered 

 it a gentle hint from my stomach that I was over- 

 working it, and reduced my fare accordingly; — in 

 fact, I thought that the less one consumed the 

 better, as all our party appeared to have a most 

 unaccountable propensity to become fat. I did 

 not eat one half that I had been accustomed to 

 do in England, and yet could not keep myself 

 from increasing. Dr. Briggs was precisely in the 

 same way ; and as for Lander, he was as broad 

 as he was long. 



The natives of this part of the river appeared 

 to be very unhealthy. They were covered with 

 scabs, ulcers, and guinea-worms, and all kinds of 

 cutaneous eruptions, which I was inclined to as- 



