CHAP. IX.] 
THE M.D. ATTENDS US. 
3 75 
branch of a tree, and filling liis month with water, he 
squirted it over the leaves and about the floor of the 
hut; he then waved the branch around my wife's head, 
also around mine, and completed the ceremony by 
sticking it in the thatch above the doorway ; he told 
us we should now get better, and perfectly satisfied, he 
took his leave. The hut was swarming with rats and 
white ants, the former racing over our bodies during 
the night, and burrowing through the floor, filling our 
only room with mounds like mole-hills. As fast as we 
stopped the holes, others were made with determined 
perseverance. Having a supply of arsenic, I gave 
them an entertainment, the effect being disagreeable to 
all parties, as the rats died in their holes, and created 
a horrible effluvium, while fresh hosts took the place of 
the departed. Now and then a snake would be seen 
gliding within the thatch, having taken shelter from 
the pouring rain. 
The smallpox was raging throughout the country, 
and the natives were dying like flies in winter. The 
country was extremely unhealthy, owing to the con¬ 
stant rain and the rank herbage, which prevented a 
free circulation of air, and from the extreme damp 
induced fevers. The temperature was 65° Fahr. at night, 
and 72° during the day; dense clouds obscured the 
sun for many days, and the air was reeking with 
