192 Seven Years in Central Africa. [Nov. 
a tropical sun had blackened and scorched the very stones; 
the earth, cracked and gaping all over, was at any hour of the 
day at a higher temperature than my bare foot could endure, 
and during the heat of the day I could not even hop on it 
without running the risk of raising blisters on my feet like half- 
crowns. Now all is cool, green, and refreshing; my hill is 
covered with a magnificent show of flowers, and the grass is 
already from two to three inches high. How such baked earth 
could ever again yield grass, and that at the first sprinkling of 
rain, is marvellous ! 
MY PATIENTS AND MY OWN HEALTH. 
The rains have, however, put a check on my daily routine ; 
my patients have to be visited now during whatever part of the 
day is likely to be dry, instead of in the afternoon. Because 
of rheumatism I am quite nervous about being caught in the 
rain. To-day I was caught in a shower when out dressing 
the foot of a wounded man, page to one of Msidi's head-wives ; 
I had to go back to my house, so the queen offered me her 
blanket to put round me. I gladly accepted it, and marched 
home in my glory, robed in her coloured blanket. I have sent 
my tipoia (hammock), however, to bring the suffering man to me; 
his friends come with him to-morrow to build a hut near me, and 
two will remain with him here. His foot is in a fearful condition, 
and will need much attention. This will be my first " hospital 
hut." The Lord works His own plans in His own way, and this 
seems to be the sort of auxiliary work that He is leading me into. 
I have had remarkable success with all sorts of diseases since 
coming here, fully nine-tenths having been cured within a very 
short period. I have done little as yet in the way of school-work. 
Kagoma, at the Lukuruwe river, sent word a few days ago 
that he intended sending men to carry me in my hammock to 
pay him another visit, so you see I am busy, and, I can add, 
happy ; indeed, most happy. 
Since the hot weather has set in, my health has improved 
wonderfully. My appetite knows no bounds, and is satisfied 
with the coarsest of foods. One could not imagine a more 
repulsive dish — 't is so to many, and was so to me until lately — 
than Kaffir corn porridge mixed with red palm oil — of which soap 
