The traders
had incurred the hostility of the country, and I should bear the brunt
of it should I remain behind alone.
Without their presence I should be
unable to procure porters, as the natives would not accompany my feeble
party, especially as I could offer them no other payment than beads or
copper. The rain had commenced within the last few days at Latooka, and
on the route toward Obbo we should encounter continual storms. We were
to march by a long and circuitous route to avoid the rocky passes that
would be dangerous in the present spirit of the country, especially as
the traders possessed large herds that must accompany the party. They
allowed five days' march for the distance to Obbo by the intended route.
This was not an alluring programme for the week's entertainment, with my
wife almost in a dying state! However, I set to work and fitted an
angarep with arched hoops from end to end, so as to form a frame like
the cap of a wagon. This I covered with two waterproof Abyssinian tanned
hides securely strapped, and lashing two long poles parallel to the
sides of the angarep, I formed an excellent palanquin. In this she was
assisted, and we started on June 23d.
On our arrival at Obbo both my wife and I were excessively ill with
bilious fever, and neither could assist the other. The old chief of
Obbo, Katchiba, hearing that we were dying, came to charm us with some
magic spell. He found us lying helpless, and immediately procured a
small branch of a tree, and filling his month 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, 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 molehills. 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 front the pouring rain.
The small-pox was raging throughout the country, and the natives were
dying like flies in winter. The country was extremely unhealthy, owing
to the constant rain and the rank herbage, which prevented a free
circulation of air, and the extreme damp induced fevers. The temperature
was 65 degrees Fahr. at night and 72 degrees during the day; dense
clouds obscured the sun for many days, and the air was reeking with
moisture.
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