416 CINCHONA BARK. Chap. XXXI 



two feet, and from subsequent rains again rose so high, that 

 we were obliged to leave it when opposite the hill Pinkwe. 

 About the 10th of March the river rose several feet with 

 comparatively clear water, and it continued to rise until the 

 21st, with but a very slight discoloration. This gradual rise 

 was the greatest, and was probably caused by the water of 

 inundation in the interior. 



Having waited a month for the commencement of the 

 healthy season at Kilimane, I should have started at the 

 beginning of April, but that I wished the moon first to 

 make her appearance, in order that I might take observations 

 on my way down the river. A sudden change of temperature 

 happening on the 4th, simultaneously with the appearance of 

 the new moon, the Commandant and myself, with nearly 

 every person in the house, were laid up with a severe attack 

 of fever. I soon recovered by the use of my wonted remedies, 

 but Major Sicard and his little boy were confined much 

 longer. There was a general fall of 4° of temperature since 

 the middle of March, the thermometer standing at 84° at 

 9 a.m. and 87° at 9 p.m. ; the greatest heat being 90° at mid- 

 day, and the lowest 81° at sunrise. It afforded me pleasure 

 to attend the invalids in their sickness, though I was unable 

 to show a tithe of the gratitude I felt for the Commandant's 

 increasing kindness. My quinine and other remedies were 

 nearly all expended, and no fresh supply was to be found 

 here, there being no doctors at Tete, and only one apothecary 

 with the troops, whose stock of medicine was also small. 

 The Portuguese, however, informed me that they had the 

 cinchona bark in their country, in small quantities at Tete, 

 in forests at Senna and near the delta of Kilimane. It seems 

 quite a providential arrangement that the remedy for fever 

 should be found in the greatest abundance where it is most 

 needed. On seeing the leaves I discovered that it was not 

 the Cinchona longifolia, from which the quinine of commerce 

 is extracted, but an apocyneous plant, nearly allied to the 

 Malouetia Heudlotii of Senegambia, and possessing strong febri- 

 fuge qualities. The flowers of this plant, which is called in 

 the native tongue Kumbanzo, are reported to be white. The 

 pods are in pairs, a foot or fifteen inches in length, and 

 contain a groove on their inner sides. The thick soft bark of 



