ILLNESS. 



321 



ague, followed by a fever, in comparison with which 

 all I had suffered before was nothing. I called for 

 water till the old woman was tired of giving it to me, 

 and went out and left me alone. I became lighthead- 

 ed, wild with pain, and wandered among the miserable 

 huts with only the consciousness that my brain was 

 scorching. I have an indistinct recollection of speak- 

 ing English to some Indian women, begging them to 

 get me a horse to ride to Zonzonate ; of some laughing, 

 others looking at me with pity, and others leading me 

 out of the sun, and making me lie down under the 

 shade of a tree. At three o'clock in the afternoon the 

 mate came ashore again. I had changed my position, 

 and he found me lying on my face asleep, and almost 

 withered by the sun. He wanted to take me back on 

 board the ship, but I begged him to procure mules and 

 take me to Zonzonate, within the reach of medical as- 

 sistance. It is hard to feel worse than I did when I 

 mounted. I passed three hours of agony, scorched by 

 the intense heat, and a little before dark arrived at Zon- 

 zonate, fortunate, as Dr. Drivin afterward told me, in 

 not having suffered a stroke of the sun. Before en- 

 tering the town and crossing the bridge over the Rio 

 Grande, I met a gentleman well mounted, having a scar- 

 let Peruvian pellon over his saddle, with whose appear- 

 ance I was struck, and we exchanged low bows. This 

 gentleman, as I afterward learned, was the government 

 I was looking after. 



I rode to the house of Captain De Nouvelle's broth- 

 er, one of the largest in the place, where I had that 

 comfort, seldom known in Central America, a room to 

 myself, and everything else necessary. For several 

 days I remained within doors. The first afternoon I 



Vol, I.— S s 



