Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark ContinentHeadley, Joel Tyler
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Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark Continent
Headley, Joel Tyler
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
"Before daybreak we were accustomed to hear the cheery notes of his
bugle, which woke us to a fresh day's labor; at night, around the
camp-fires, we were charmed with his sweet, simple songs, of which
he had an inexhaustible _répertoire_. When tired also with
marching, it was his task to announce to the tired people the
arrival of the vanguard at camp, so that he had become quite a
treasure to us all; and I must say, I have never known men who
could bear what your sons have borne on this expedition so
patiently and uncomplainingly. I never heard one grumble either
from Frank or Ted; have never heard them utter an illiberal remark,
or express any wish that the expedition had never set foot in
Africa, as many men would have done in their situation, so that you
may well imagine, that if the loss of one of your sons causes grief
to your paternal heart, it has been no less a grief to us, as we
were all, as it were, one family, surrounded as we are by so much
that is dark and forbidding.
"On arriving at Suna, in Urimi, Ted came to me, after a very long
march, complaining of pain in his limbs and loins. I did not think
it was serious at all, nor anything uncommon after walking twenty
miles, but told him to go and lie down, that he would be better on
the morrow, as it was very likely fatigue. The next morning I
visited him, and he again complained of pains in the knees and
back, which I ascribed to rheumatism, and treated him accordingly.
The third day he complained of pain in the chest, difficulty of
breathing and sleeplessness, from which I perceived he was
suffering from some other malady than rheumatism, but what it could
be I could not divine. He was a little feverish, so I applied a
mustard-plaster and gave him some aperient medicine. Toward night
he began to wander in his head, and on examining his tongue I found
it was almost black and coated with dark gray fur. At these
symptoms I thought he had a severe attack of remittent fever, from
which I suffered in Ujiji, in 1871, and therefore I watched for an
opportunity to administer quinine--that is, when the fever should
abate a little.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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