478 
THE BURSTING OF A GUN. 
21, 22 Nov. 
caused harm, or personal injury, to any of my fellow-creatures. It 
was my peculiar situation which rendered this accident more than 
ordinarily unfortunate and distressing. I knew not whether, in 
so hot a climate, fatal consequences might not in a few hours ensue 
from the wound ; or whether mortification could be prevented, or 
life saved, only by amputation of part of the arm : an operation 
which no one in this part of the globe was competent to perform. 
Little, indeed, as I knew of surgery, I may even say that nobody 
in these regions knew more. The secondary, though not unim- 
portant, considerations which encreased my distress, were the loss of 
his services ; the unfavorable gloom which it cast over my affairs, 
not very inviting to those Hottentots whom I expected to join my 
party ; and, added to these, the loss of time and delay which must 
unavoidably be occasioned by giving him all that attention which 
was requisite, and by waiting at this place till his cure was effected. 
He was sitting on the ground, and with his left hand supported 
his right, which presented a shocking sight; literally blown to pieces. 
The fore-finger and thumb were remaining, although torn apart; 
but the other fingers, with part of the palm, and the two outer 
metacarpal bones, were quite separated, and adhered, or rather hung, 
only by a small piece of the flesh. A multitude of painful ideas 
pressed upon me ; but Gert himself appeared quite unchanged and 
unmoved ; and it was some consolation to perceive that he felt, in 
mind, at least, not a tenth part of what I suffered on his account. 
I took him instantly to the missionary's house, where I obtained 
Mr. Anderson's assistance in cleansing the wound of gunpowder and 
particles of dirt. I bathed it with the preparation called Friar's 
Balsam, and closed it with bandages : for, as it did not bleed, I con- 
ceived the balsam useful in the absence of blood, to form, as it were, 
an artificial skin, to protect it from the effects of the air. In a 
couple of hours after this, it first began to bleed ; and having allowed 
it to continue doing so for such time as I thought sufficient for the 
purpose of preventing inflammation, I washed it frequently with a 
solution of alum in plain water, which, before night, gradually 
stopped the flow of blood. 
