198 
A Case of Dry Belly-Ache. 
in which these trees were interlaced with thousands upon thousands of 
bush-rope and creeper, the scenery proved most beautiful. 
649. We had arranged to get to-day as far as the so-called Cliff, 
the first spot on the western bank where granite rock is to be seen. 
There is a fairly large farm in its immediate vicinity. The day was 
already drawing to a close as we approached when the silence was 
suddenly broken by the most heart rending cries of pain in a woman’s 
voice, proceeding from the owner’s residence. Upset by the sound, we 
tied our corial to the stelling and, hurrying up, met the proprietor who, 
with a sad face, quietly led us into a pleasant room on the upper storey. 
We found a young girl here writhing in strong convulsions and uttering 
those cries of distress which had made us shudder even at a distance. 
Her night-dress as well as the white coverlet of the bed were deeply 
stained with blood. Dismayed and grievously shocked, Hancock and I 
stood several minutes speechless in front of the couch till the voice of our 
host wakened us from our stupor. “Look at my dear sister,” he told us, 
“she only came from Holland a few weeks ago to cheer up my lonesome 
existence in this fail away country, and now she must leave me for ever!” 
The poor 18-year old young woman had been attacked the day before with 
a virulent complaint whicli the Colonists call “dry belly-ache,” an ex- 
tremely dangerous inflammation of the bowels, to which almost all who 
are afflicted fall a sacrifice.* The setting sun that shed its parting rays 
ever the clean bed covered with spots of blood, and upon the withered 
cheeks of the pretty young face, as well as over the trembling and 
sympathetic features of an aged half-naked Negress who was trying to 
restrain and encourage the patient, shewed in its mellow light such 
fearful contrasts as to make ns feel most terribly horrified. Believing 
it to be a fever on account of the terribly raised temperature, the discon- 
solate brother had hoped to relieve the sufferer by opening a vein, but 
the dressings, not being properly secured, had become unloosened and the 
wound was bleeding afresh. Hancock, who had formerly studied 
medicine, lost no time in approaching the bedside and with a bandage 
skilfully applied, succeeded in stopping the severe hemorrhage. The 
increased noise in the room may have caused the sick woman to suspect 
the arrival of strangers: at any rate she suddenly opened her hitherto 
closed eyelids and, without a movement on her pale lips, turned her 
large black eyes upon us for a long while in surprise, when her brother, 
who probably surmised in Hancock’s dexterous manipulations the 
presence of a doctor, bent over and tried to comfort her with the 
assurance that help was now at hand. The calm look of hope with 
which she regarded Hancock and her soft expression of gratitude were 
suddenly interrupted again with the most terrible cramps and piercing 
cries of agony. We could bear this shocking scene no longer but, deeply 
affected, left the chamber of suffering and made our way down again to 
* This “ drv bellv-achp ” was most like 1 }’ Pernicious Malaria. Even now these cases are 
seen occasionally in the Colonial Hospital, running a rapid and acute course, with chiefly 
intestinal symotoms. It may, of course, have been Cholera, which appeared in Guiana in 
1832-?>3, though one would have expected so well-informed a writer to be acquainted with 
this disease. The “cramps” are very suggestive. (F.G.R.) 
