POISONED 
were eating, as I quickly observed when the tree fell down 
that not a single chestnut had been touched by birds or 
monkeys. 
I have always noticed in equatorial countries that if 
you never touch fruit that monkeys do not eat you will 
seldom get poisoned. My men said that they had never 
seen the fruit before, but as it looked pretty they were 
going to eat it, and a lot of it. So they stayed some 
time cracking the nuts and eating them with great 
delight. 
When we got back to the canoe we had gone only 
a short distance when Filippe the negro was seized with 
violent pains. His eyes had become sunken, his lips were 
quivering, and in a moment he was seized with cramps all 
over the body, so that he collapsed. 
We had to halt on a small island of rock, where we 
took Filippe out and I had him laid flat on his chest, as 
he looked just like a corpse. I inserted a leather strap 
into his throat in order to cause immediate vomiting, then 
I unpacked some of the castor oil which still remained 
in my possession — we never seemed to lose the beastly 
stuff —- and gave him a dose powerful enough to kill 
an ox. 
The other men were laughing all the time, saying that 
they felt no pain at all; but their boast did not last long, 
for a few moments later, while I was watching poor 
Filippe, Antonio and the man X threw themselves down 
on the rocks, rolling over and contorting themselves, 
evidently in most excruciating pain. 
The same treatment was applied to them in turn, and 
I watched with great concern three men out of the six 
spread out helpless, and in such a dreadful condition that 
I really doubted whether they would be alive in another 
hour. I considered myself fortunate that the other three 
had not been poisoned. 
Half an hour later — it was impossible to move on 
221 
