While We Were Enjoying A Few Months' Repose, The Elements Were
Hard At Work.
Every day, without exception, and generally for
several hours of the night, the lightning flashed and thunder
roared with little intermission, while the rain poured in such
torrents that the entire country became perfectly impassable,
with the exception of the hard ground of the Atbara valley.
The
rich loam of the table land had risen like leavened dough, and
was knee-deep in adhesive mud; the grass upon this surface grew
with such rapidity that in a few weeks it reached a height of
nine or ten feet. The mud rushed in torrents down the countless
watercourses, which were now in their greatest activity in
hurrying away the fertile soil of Egypt; and the glorious Atbara
was at its maximum.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT.
TIME glided away smoothly at our camp amidst the storms of the
rainy season. The Arabs had nothing to do, and suffered much from
the absence of their herds, as there was a great scarcity of
milk. The only animals that had not been sent to the north were
a few goats; these were so teased by the flies that they produced
but a small supply. Fever had appeared at the same time with the
flies, and every one was suffering more or less, especially
Florian, who was seriously ill. I was in full practice as
physician, and we congratulated ourselves upon the healthiness of
our little isolated camp, when suddenly my wife was prostrated by
a severe attack of gastric fever, which for nine days rendered
her recovery almost hopeless. At length the fever gave way to
careful attendance, and my Arab patients and Florian were also in
a fair way towards recovery. The plagues of Egypt were upon us;
the common house-flies were in billions, in addition to the
cattle-tormentor. Our donkeys would not graze, but stood day and
night in the dense smoke of fires, made of sticks and green
grass, for protection.
The plague of boils broke out, and every one was attacked more or
less severely. Then came a plague of which Moses must have been
ignorant, or he would surely have inflicted it upon Pharaoh. This
was a species of itch, which affected all ages and both sexes
equally; it attacked all parts of the body, but principally the
extremities. The irritation was beyond description; small
vesicles rose above the skin, containing a watery fluid, which,
upon bursting, appeared to spread the disease. The Arabs had no
control over this malady, which they called "coorash," and the
whole country was scratching. The popular belief attributed the
disease to the water of the Atbara at this particular season:
although a horrible plague, I do not believe it to have any
connexion with the well-known itch or "scabies" of Europe.
I adopted a remedy that I had found a specific for mange in dogs,
and this treatment became equally successful in cases of coorash.
Gunpowder, with the addition of one-fourth of sulphur, made into
a soft paste with water, and then formed into an ointment with
fat:
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