254 
THE M.D. ATTENDS US. 
[chap. IX. 
branch of a tree, and filling his mouth 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 
moisture. In the evening it was always necessary to 
keep a blazing fire within the hut, as the floor and 
walls were wet and chilly. 
The wet herbage disagreed with my baggage animals. 
Innumerable flies appeared, including the Tsetse, and 
in a few weeks the donkeys had no hair left, either on 
their ears or legs; they drooped and died one by one. 
It was in vain that I erected sheds, and lighted fires; 
nothing would protect them from the flies. The 
moment the fires were lit, the animals would rush 
wildly into the smoke, from which nothing would 
drive them, and in the clouds of imaginary protection 
they would remain all day, refusing food. On the 
