i/4 Notes on the Congo River . 
are found to be panaceas for mild fevers (p. 46) : 
presently the surgeon makes a discovery as fol¬ 
lows : “With regard to the treatment I shall here 
only observe that bleeding was particularly unsuc¬ 
cessful. Cathartics were of the greatest utility, 
and calomel, so administered as speedily to induce 
copious salivation, generally procured a remission 
of all the violent symptoms/’ The phlebotomy 
was inherited from the missioners, who own 
almost to have blinded themselves by it. When 
one was “ blooded ” fifteen times and died, his 
amateur Sangrado said, “It had been better to 
have bled him thirty times : ” the theory was 
that in so hot a climate all the European blood 
should be replaced by African. One of the entries 
in Captain Tuckey’s diary is, “ Awaking extremely 
unwell, I directly swallowed five grains of calomel” 
—a man worn out by work and sleeping in the 
open air! The “ Congo ” sloop was moored in a 
reach surrounded by hills, instead of being anchored 
in mid stream where the current of water creates 
a current of air; those left behind in her died of 
palm wine, of visits from native women, and of 
exposure to the sun by day and to the nightly 
dews. On the line of march the unfortunate 
marines wore pigtails and cocked hats; stocks 
and cross-belts; tight-fitting, short-waisted red 
coats, and knee-breeches with boots or spatter¬ 
dashes—even the stout Lord Clyde in his latest 
