64 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
anything human, and the hand was most like a 
turtle's fin. 
Whilst this was going on, the relatives of the 
poor man kept up a continual wailing, as though he 
had been already dead ; and he himself, although 
he submitted patiently to our efforts to procure him 
relief, had lost all hope of living. He indicated the 
spot where he wished to be buried, and gave what 
he considered his last directions to his wife about 
his children and property. He also sent off a 
messenger to his mother and brothers at Tabalosos, 
telling them that he was dying, and offering them 
his last adieux. 
Towards evening, although the pain was still 
intense, the beating of the heart had become fuller 
and more regular, so that I felt sure the progress 
of the poison had been arrested, and I was now 
only afraid of mortification supervening in the arm. 
I therefore set Chumbi's wife and daughter to grind 
a quantity of rice, and enveloped the hand and 
wrist in a thick poultice, and had the rest of the 
arm fomented with an infusion of aromatic herbs at 
short intervals throughout the night. When the 
poultice was taken off in the morning, it was satur- 
ated with blood and putrid matter from the wounds, 
which had become much enlarged. The swelling 
was sensibly diminished, and the arm had become 
covered with pustules containing bloody serum, 
which we evacuated by puncturing them. A ready- 
made rice-poultice replaced the one taken off, and 
we kept up the fomentation and the poulticing 
until, at the end of forty-eight hours, the swelling 
had entirely subsided. The blood, besides break- 
ing out at the skin, had also got mixed with the 
