330 UNCOMFORTABLE LODGINGS. 



head ached with such violence, that I could not 

 eat or move a muscle of my face. I was very 

 apprehensive of being laid up on the spot with 

 fever; and certainly, neither before nor since, 

 have I ever experienced such an acute, dreadful 

 pain : tic douloureux was nothing in compari- 

 son to it. 



My chief resource was smoking ; and in the 

 evening Captain Mitchell and I went to King 

 Boy's houses on the bank of the river, to pass 

 the night. Having spread my cloak, and with 

 a sword and pistol by my side in case of treach- 

 ery, I laid myself down. A small, hollow, 

 wooden dish had been brought to us, filled with 

 palm-oil, and a piece of the bark of a tree was 

 placed in it for a wick. Having requested this 

 primitive lamp to be taken away, it was no 

 sooner done and we were left in darkness, 

 than a noise commenced as if people were at- 

 tempting to get in through the roof of the house. 

 I instantly rose and called out, when the noise 

 ceased, but soon recommenced ; and, hearing the 

 squeaking of rats, we concluded that they had 

 created the disturbance. They were large water- 

 rats, whose nests were in the roof of the house. 



