A MIDNIGHT MARCH. 161 
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 toa house. Here the kind mistréss 
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 
