BILIOUS FEVER AND AGUE. 
277 
came to. How I longed for soda water, or black 
currant tea, and all the little delicacies a man 
fancies when he is ill! I tried to make gruel, meal 
being all I had; the rice is finished, and everything 
else except bread arid meat, varied, as they say in 
Australia, by meat and bread; the latter, however, 
is only coarse meal and water, as I have no sieve to 
sift the bran, and though all goes down with a relish 
when I am in good order, I found it a very different 
thing when ill. One of my Kaffirs, Inyous, was mos^ 
attentive to me the whole time, sitting up half the 
night chafing my feet and hands, and I frequently, 
when in some of my worst fits of ague, saw him in 
tears. He evidently thought it was all up with me. 
The Kaffirs, one and all, accused Kaffier—a Hottentot 
—of having given me poison in my coffee, and there 
was a great row, Auguste swearing if I died he 
would shoot Kaffier, and the latter saying he would 
leave the wagon forthwith. I had great difficulty in 
procuring order once more amongst them, and now 
the matter is to come before Sechele. The day pre¬ 
vious to my being taken ill they had refused to go 
out with me elephant-hunting, in consequence of the 
badness of my horse, saying I should assuredly be 
killed, and then Sechele would blame them for it. 
Kaffier and Auguste have also been ill, the latter 
really; the former always thinks himself so, and is 
bled, cupped, cut, and doctored at every Kaffir state. 
He has the most depraved stomach I ever saw; he 
always bothers me for medicine, and smacks his lips 
