194 
THE FEYER. 
Chap. X. 
CHAPTEE X. 
Tlie fever ~ Its symptoms — Remedies of the native doctors — Hospitality 
of Sekeletu and his people — One of their reasons for polygamy — They 
cultivate largely — The Makalaka or subject tribes Sebituane’s policy 
respecting them — Their affection for him — Products of the soil — 
Instrument of culture — The tribute — Distributed by the chief — A 
warlike demonstration — Lechulatebe’s provocations ~ The Makololo de¬ 
termine to punish him — The Bechuanas — Meaning of the term — Three 
divisions of the great family of South Africans. 
On tlie 30th of May I was seized with fever for the first time. 
We reached the town of Linyanti on the 23rd; and as my habits 
were suddenly changed from great exertion to comparative in¬ 
activity, at the commencement of the cold season I suffered from 
a severe attack of stoppage of the secretions, closely resembhng 
a common cold. Warm baths and drinks relieved me, and I 
had no idea hut that I was now recovering from the effects of 
a chill, got by leaving the warm waggon in the evening in order 
to conduct family-worsliip at my people’s fire. But on the 2nd 
of June a relapse showed to the Makololo, who knew the com¬ 
plaint, that my indisposition was no other than the fever, with 
which I have since made a more intimate acquaintance. Cold 
east winds prevail at this time; and as they come over the 
extensive flats inundated by the Chobe, as well as many other 
districts where pools of rain-water are now drying up, they may 
be supposed to be loaded with malaria and watery vapour, and 
many cases of fever follow. The usual symptoms of stopped 
secretion are manifested—sliivering and a feeling of coldness, 
though the skin is quite hot to the touch of another. The heat 
in the axilla, over the heart and region of the stomach, was in 
my case 100® ; but along the spine and at the nape of the neck 
103®. The internal processes were all, with the exception of 
the kidneys and liver, stopped; the latter, in its efforts to free 
the blood of noxious particles, often secretes enormous quantities 
of bile. There were pains along the spine, and frontal headache. 
Anxious to ascertain whether the natives possessed the know¬ 
ledge of any remedy of wliich we were ignorant, I requested the 
assistance of one of Sekeletu’s doctors. He put some roots into 
