Then
they turned off at right angles to the line they had before been
pursuing and continued their journey.
Two days later Mr. Goodenough was prostrated by fever, and for
several days lay between life and death. When he became convalescent
he recovered strength very slowly. The heat was prodigious and the
mosquitos rendered sleep almost impossible at night. The country at
this place was low and swampy, and, weak as he was, Mr. Goodenough
determined to push forward. He was, however, unable to walk, and,
for the first time, a hammock was got out and mounted.
There is no more comfortable conveyance in the world than a hammock
in Africa. It is slung from a long bamboo pole, overhead a thick
awning keeps the sun from the hammock. Across the ends of the
pole boards of some three feet long are fastened. The natives wrap
a piece of cloth into the shape of a muffin and place it on their
heads, and then take their places, two at each end of the pole,
with the ends of the board on their heads. They can trot along at
the rate of six miles an hour, for great distances, often keeping
up a monotonous song. Their action is perfectly smooth and easy,
and the traveler in the hammock, by shutting his eyes, might imagine
himself swinging in a cot on board ship on an almost waveless sea.
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