Travels in the Interior of Africa — Volume 02Park, Mungo
History
Travels in the Interior of Africa — Volume 02
Park, Mungo
Africa -- Discovery and exploration; Niger River
when this friendly negro stretched out his hospitable hand for my relief.
In the hut which was appropriated for me I was provided with a mat to
sleep on, an earthen jar for holding water, and a small calabash to drink
out of; and Karfa sent me, from his own dwelling, two meals a day, and
ordered his slaves to supply me with firewood and water. But I found
that neither the kindness of Karfa nor any sort of accommodation could
put a stop to the fever which weakened me, and which became every day
more alarming. I endeavoured as much as possible to conceal my distress;
but on the third day after my arrival, as I was going with Karfa to visit
some of his friends, I found myself so faint that I could scarcely walk,
and before we reached the place I staggered and fell into a pit, from
which the clay had been taken to build one of the huts. Karfa
endeavoured to console me with the hopes of a speedy recovery, assuring
me that if I would not walk out in the wet I should soon be well. I
determined to follow his advice, and confine myself to my hut, but was
still tormented with the fever, and my health continued to be in a very
precarious state for five ensuing weeks. Sometimes I could crawl out of
the hut, and sit a few hours in the open air; at other times I was unable
to rise, and passed the lingering hours in a very gloomy and solitary
manner. I was seldom visited by any person except my benevolent
landlord, who came daily to inquire after my health.
When the rains became less frequent, and the country began to grow dry,
the fever left me, but in so debilitated a condition that I could
scarcely stand upright; and it was with great difficulty that I could
carry my mat to the shade of a tamarind-tree, at a short distance, to
enjoy the refreshing smell of the cornfields, and delight my eyes with a
prospect of the country. I had the pleasure at length to find myself in
a state of convalescence, towards which the benevolent and simple manners
of the negroes, and the perusal of Karfa’s little volume, greatly
contributed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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