and then a small sketch, that I succeeded in enlightening them as to
the real cause of my fear.

I passed the night, therefore, with these half savages, who
constantly showed me the greatest respect, and overwhelmed me with
attention. A straw mat, which, at my request, was spread out under
shelter in the court-yard, was my bed. They brought me for supper a
roast fowl, rice, and hard eggs, and for dessert, oranges and
tamarind-pods; the latter contain a brown, half sweet, half sour
pulp, very agreeable to the taste. The women lay all round me, and
by degrees we managed to get on wonderfully together.

I showed them the different flowers and insects I had gathered
during the day. This, doubtless, induced them to look upon me as a
learned person, and, as such, to impute to me a knowledge of
medicine. They begged me to prescribe for different cases of
illness: bad ears, eruptions of the skin, and in the children, a
considerable tendency to scrofula, etc. I ordered lukewarm baths,
frequent fomentations, and the use of oil and soap, applied
externally and rubbed into the body. May Heaven grant that these
remedies have really worked some good!

On the 11th of October, I proceeded into the forest, in company with
a negress and a Puri, to find out the Indians. At times, we had to
work our way laboriously through the thicket, and then again we
would find narrow paths, by which we pursued our journey with
greater ease. After eight hours' walking, we came upon a number of
Puris, who led us into their huts, situated in the immediate
vicinity, where I beheld a picture of the greatest misery and want:
I had often met with a great deal of wretchedness in my travels, but