CHAP. XII.] 
SICKNESS ON THE MARCH. 
367 
mainland, and we were ferried across. We were both 
very ill with a sudden attack of fever; and my wife, 
not being able to stand, was, on arrival on the island, 
carried in a litter I knew not whither, escorted by 
some of my men, while I lay down on the wet ground 
quite exhausted with the annihilating disease. At 
length the remainder of my men crossed over, and 
those who had carried my wife to the village returning 
with firebrands, I managed to creep after them with 
the aid of a long stick, upon which I rested with both 
hands. After a walk, through a forest of high trees, 
for .about a quarter of a mile, I arrived at a village 
where I was shown a wretched hut, the stars being 
visible through the roof. In this my wife lay dread¬ 
fully ill upon her angarep, and I fell down upon some 
straw. About an hour later, a violent thunderstorm 
broke over us, and our hut was perfectly flooded; we, 
being far too ill and helpless to move from our positions, 
remained dripping wet and shivering with fever until 
the morning. Our servants and people had, like all 
natives, made themselves much more comfortable than 
their employers ; nor did they attempt to interfere with 
our misery in any way until summoned to appear at 
sunrise. 
The island of Patooan was about half a mile 
long by 150 yards wide, and was one of the 
numerous masses of rocks that choke the river 
between Karuma Falls and the great Murchison 
cataract. The rock was entirely of grey granite, 
from the clefts of which beautiful forest trees grew 
so thickly that the entire island was in shade. In 
the middle of this secluded spot was a considerable 
village thickly inhabited, as the population of the 
mainland had fled from their dwellings and had 
taken refuge upon the numerous river islands, as the 
war was raging between Rionga and Kamrasi. A 
succession of islands from the east of Patooan con¬ 
tinued to within a march of Karuma Falls. These 
were in the possession of Rionga, and a still more 
