ding as
utterly misplaced. I stood watching them for a few minutes, and then
approaching one of the flageolet players I held out my hand and pointed
to his instrument, signifying that I desired to examine it.

With some show of hesitation the man surrendered the thing, and upon
inspection I found it to be a reed of about a foot in length, with a
mouthpiece shaped something like that of a whistle, and with four small
holes drilled in the length of the tube, whereby an expert performer
might produce seven distinct tones; but the tones were not consecutive,
and the instrument was altogether a very poor and inefficient affair.
It furnished me with an idea, however, and on the following day, by dint
of much suggestive gesticulation, I contrived to intimate to my guard my
desire to obtain a reed similar to those from which the native
instruments were made. They offered no objection, but conducted me some
distance beyond the town, through the bush, to a spot on the bank of the
river where the reed was growing in abundance. I had resolved to make
myself either a flute or a flageolet, whichever might prove easiest, and
I accordingly selected with great care half-a-dozen of the most suitable
reeds that I could find, and, borrowing his spear from one of my guards,
cut them, taking care that they should be of ample length for my
purpose.

Then I hunted about for some soft wood wherefrom to make mouthpieces and
the stopped end of the flute; and it was while I was thus engaged that I
made a most important discovery, which was nothing less than that there
were several very fine specimens of the cinchona tree growing in the
jungle quite close to the town. This was a singularly fortunate and
opportune discovery, for I had already observed that fever and ague were
very prevalent among the inhabitants, and I hoped that if by means of a
decoction of cinchona bark I could effect a cure, I might be able very
materially to improve and strengthen my position in the town. I
therefore collected as much of the bark as I could conveniently carry,
and took it back with me to my hut, where I lost no time in preparing a
generous supply of tolerably strong solution of quinine. This done, I
sallied forth on the look-out for patients, and soon found as many as I
wanted. But it was one thing to find them, and quite another to
persuade them to swallow my medicine, and it was not until at length I
administered a pretty stiff dose to myself that I p