m N A R R A T I V E' O F A N
c H A*p. in the wet; This*-kind of hemp is fo very much like
«_ r——„_j white iilkj that the importation is forbidden in many
- countries, to prevent impofition by felling-it for the fame;
‘land the fraud is more-difficult to be deleted when it is artfully
mixed with filk. By the Indians this plant is called
curetta, .and in Surinam vulgarly Indian foap, *as it contains
a faponaeeous, pulpy fubitance,which anfwers for
wafhting - as: cominon foap, and is employed for that pUr-
pofe by the negroes' and many others. Another plant
much refembling this, Is "by the black people ;termed
baboon knifee, as it ibmetimes. cuts through the fkin to
the very boner of which r myfelf had fome proofs > in
this wiklernefs, but without any ill confequence.
In the manner I have already-related th e . time -was
Ipent during this'period, in which the wholfeheamp fwas
[ deftitute oftftockmgsj fhoes, hats, See. Colonel Fourgeoud
walked; a whole- day barefooted .himfelf to furnifh an exr
ample of patience and perfcverance, and to keep the few:
remaining, troops from murmuring.', " In this refp&3r I
had fairly the advantage of all the company, my fkin. being
(the fwelled foot or confeca, and a few fcyatchesi ex-
oepted) perfedbly whole from my habit of walking thus,
while not a. found limb was'to be found among the refti
whofe legs in general were "broken out in dreadful
ulcers,'with a difeharge e f pus. I have already in part
accounted'for this; inconvenience, and fhall ftill farther
account for it, by obferving, that while the" ftockings and
fkoes o f thefe unhappy people, remained, they were ne+
ver;
Ver©fF~the i&fet bf matiy Wearers, who, after marching chap.
ihiye, l a this- filthy condition, ,, jfc
rbfted during' the might* m their hammocks, where, in
filth yras dried upon
their limbs^-ratid ^»tbrifequeflcie caufed an itching and
rednefs.\Onthe fkin, which by fcr'atching broke out in,
and .ended , inM open * ihrO&nand1 hlcbrs, which^ from
changed to*
mortification and .int5lera1ilb fwelliigsyi(by which fome
loft their * limbs, and ©thin's, eveil theif li-vcs when they
were not favdd’.fcy amputation. Such were the carries^
andifucnthevefiebts of the evils wo had1 to ftruggle with *
but they- were farfrom the whole of ©hr wretehedhefs,
and might be called only the precurfors ©f what we had;
ftill to Undergo! • ;
• shAkthiM■’ temetamcmpliment of' a fin&-bawii and* a dossem
©f port«wine beingfentme byCaptain Fan Caeverdm, I
gave all in. a prefent to poor Fourgeoud, who was emaciated
with fatigue, except faur bottles. which I drank
with ‘the other' officers jrand next day,fhe '2.9th, I had the-
honour to be ordered ©n a patrol with Colonel desBorgnes.
and forty privates imm marz, to try if wie could not take:
tlie negroes who had crofted the creek three weeMhefore.
Havingdropped down the river with a baige*in which'
we lay all riighf, we landed'the following morning, and;
marchedl'N. E. r after which, being without a eompafs*
we loon loft our way, and having croffed a^large fand-'
koL. I . N.n 2l favanna,s