110 
MADAGASCAR. 
to be preferred to any European expedients, in 
my opinion. The natives use the hot bath and 
copious douches of hot water in the feverish 
stages, and these they render fragrant by the 
use of the leaves of aromatic plants. They then 
crush and squeeze the muscles of the patient, 
and stretch the limbs at frequent intervals, and 
at the same time rub all the joints of the body 
firmly, and thus assist the circulation of the blood 
and vital energy throughout the system. When 
the period of convalescence ensues, great care is 
required, and a generous diet, without excitants, 
is necessary, as collapse may intervene, and the 
life may ebb away in a few hours. Some years 
will pass before the effects of this fever leave the 
system entirely, and then the permanent result 
upon the brain is often most deplorable and sad, 
inasmuch as no one is so conscious of the depres¬ 
sion and loss of mental energy as the sufferer 
himself, who can never hope, unless blessed with 
exceptional recuperative powers, to entirely re¬ 
cover his usual strength and vivacity. 
The full virulence of this dread visitant may 
be better understood when it is stated that even 
animals shun the spots where it breathes forth 
its deadly vapours, and the natives themselves 
fall before it, if unaccustomed to life on the coast, 
even more readily than Europeans. The natives 
chew the bark of the cinchona tree, which is a 
