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 from the pouring rain.
The smallpox 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 from 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. In the evening it was always necessary to keep a
blazing fire within the hut, as the floor and walls were wet and chilly.
The wet herbage disagreed with my baggage animals.
Innumerable flies appeared, including the Tsetse, and in a few weeks the
donkeys had no hair left, either on their ears or legs; they drooped
and died one by one.
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