182 



AGUE AND FEVER. 



quinine. Swallowing large doses upon an empty 

 stomach, they irritated the digestive organs, and 

 they brought on cerebral congestion by 6 heroic 

 practice ' when constipated. 



According to the Arabs and Hindus of Zan- 

 zibar, ague and fever are to be avoided only by 

 perspiring during sleep under a blanket in a 

 closed room — a purgatory for a healthy hot- 

 blooded man in this damp tepid region. I found 

 the cure-almost-as-bad-as-the-disease precaution 

 adopted by the Spanish colonists at my salu- 

 brious residence — Fernando Po, West Africa. 

 Only two officers escaped c chills,' and they both 

 courageously carried out the preventive system : 

 oil the other hand, it was remarked that they 

 looked more aged, and they appeared to have 

 suffered more from the climate, than those who 

 shook once a month with 'rigors.' There is 

 certainly no better prescription for catching ague 

 than a coolth of skin during sleep : having 

 purchased experience at a heavy price, it is my 

 invariable practice when awaking with a chilly 

 epiderm to drink a glass of water c cold with- 

 out,' and to bury myself for an hour under a pile 

 of blankets. Every slave-hut has a cartel or 

 cot, and the savages of the coast, like those of 

 the Upper Nile, carry about wooden stools for 



