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Cornugaya Directory 10
Page 01
True, I did not let my men suspect that I was very ill. After a few
minutes I struggled up once more under my heavy load and asked the men to
come along. I had been seized with such a violent attack of fever that my
strength seemed to have vanished all of a sudden, my limbs quivering in a
most alarming way. I carried a clinical thermometer on my person. My
temperature was 104 deg. F. From ten o'clock in the morning until three in
the afternoon the attack of fever was so acute that several times I fell
down. My men, who were in a pitiable condition that day, collapsed, now
one, now another, although their loads were less than half the weight of
mine, each man carrying about 40 lb. We marched until four o'clock that
afternoon, but only covered a distance of 6 kil. in that entire day. Two
of the men had abandoned their loads altogether, as they could not carry
them any farther. What vexed me considerably was that they had discarded
my valuable things in preference to leaving the great weight of rubbish
of their own which they insisted on carrying, such as looking-glasses,
combs, brushes, a number of old clothes in shreds, and the heavy
hammocks, which weighed not less than 20 lb. each.
In order to make things as easy as possible for them I once more
rearranged the loads that afternoon, abandoning six hundred rifle
cartridges, several tins of hyposulphite of soda, other chemicals, all
the developing trays, etc., for my photographic work, and a number of
valuable trinkets I had collected. Much to my sorrow I had also to
abandon the geological collection, which was too heavy to be carried any
farther. Then I had to abandon all the books which were necessary for
working out my astronomical observations, such as Norrie's _Navigation_
and _The Nautical Almanac_, and all possible articles which were not
absolutely necessary.
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