xlviii 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
" Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero 
Pulsanda tellus," 
was all the go in Bridgetown. 
Notwithstanding the most guarded sobriety and 
abstinence on my part, the fever and ague would at 
times assault me with great obstinacy. The attacks 
could always be traced to my getting wet, and re- 
maining in my wet clothes until the sun had dried 
them ; a custom never to be sufficiently condemned 
in any country. But, as Fenelon remarks, La 
jeunesse est presomptueuse : elle se promet tout 
d'elle-meme ; quoique fragile, elle croit pouvoir 
tout, e{ n'avoir jamais rien a craindre : elle se 
confie legerement, et sans precaution." 
When the ague came on to any serious extent, I 
would go up to Mr. Edmonstone's house, in Mibiri 
Creek, for change of air. He was the most valued 
friend I ever had in the world ; and I seldom failed 
to recover my health during the time that I remained 
with him. His nephew, Mr. Archibald Edmon- 
stone, was all hospitality and kindness. He was 
very knowing in the woods, and would find out the 
fruit-bearing trees, where the finest birds in Guiana 
were to be seen. Nobody was better acquainted 
with the forest trees than he was. I have by me a 
catalogue of his, in which he enumerates nearly 
seventy trees found in that neighbourhood ; and he 
gives the size at v/hich they generally arrive, their 
Indian names, their qualities, and their uses. 
In the year 1808, Admiral Collingwood having 
sent despatches to Dem^erara for the Spanish govern- 
ment in the Orinoco, I was requested by Governor 
Ross to be the bearer of them. 
