Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-08-19
The African "Bush."

The word bush" so frequently used,
but feebly tells the story of this immense
forest. Bush and underbrush, weed and
matted creeper. and dense exotic it has
below; but aloft, 800 feet above the earth. /
the giant cotton wood lifts his ponderouS
evergreen head, and countless trees of
lesser growth fill up the lower space; par
asites, orchids, and innumerable ferns
hang ont from bough and trunk, until the
sun at noon is powerless 10 pierce their
taagled shade. or only falls in golden patch
es upon the narrow pathway which curves
amid the hugh roots and overgrown giants
that cumber the ground. Cool shade in
this tropic landr' Will cry some stranger
to the scene. No, not " cool. Shade,
perhaps: but the coolnesS is the sitting
atmosphere of the tropical house At Kew,
which we rush through and leave despite
its gorgeous plants, with long drawn
respiration of relief. Beneath this forest,
and amidst this mass of tangled and twist
ed foliage, man moves rs though he crept
Mt the bottom of the ocean. Above it Is
light and air; below, it is shade, and
green caves, and trellis-work of hanging
| plants. and poisonous malaria. This for
est is to the vegetable world what the
cobra and the tiger are to the reptile and
the animal natures, poisonous and beautl-
! ful; deadly, vet delighting the eye; for,
from fanlike leaf. and pendent orchid, and
unshapelv and inedible fruit, and above
all. from stagnant swamp and marsh,
reeking with heavy odors, there ever floats
a deadly malaria. a subtle poison which
man drinks as he draws breath, ana
knows not of until throbbing head and
skin of fire, and shooting pains through
.j / tI.,t tl1a
has caught him in its grasp. Trudging
all day through this labyrinth of leaves
and mud. one reaches in the afternoon
some clav-built Groom" swarming witt
naked and nearly-naked natives. The
place occupied 10y the huts is clear o
trees, but the forest treads closely upor
the village. and hens it in on every side
A native gives up his hat, one of more
pretension than its neighbors, and the ho
and tired traveller enters. Within N
hour he is down with fever; his heat
throbs; his skin is dry and burning; hi
body feels rs though it hal been beatel
with sticks; he is as II Calais boat coul'
make him in midwinter gale; for Il coup
lie of days the fever holds him fast, nov
better. now worse, but every time he lift
himself from his wretched bed llttl
7 weaker; every thing around him seem
e negatived by this poison; drink ceases t
y satisfy thirst; sleep becomes a time c
h terror, for long, long dreams of endles
y toll crowd upon him as he lies, while sti
e the presence of pain is unfelt- At last tn
s fever leaves him for time; then come
}. the moment for quinine; ten, twenty. THU
d tv grains are taken in 4 few hours, an
y after four or five days he rises, weak 4
: though twenty days of English illness ha
;, passed over him, while voice and lint
d falter at their work, and all wish for foo
e seems to have vanished forever. This,
h Il few words, is West African fever, whe
n it comes on in the bush. Few men ca
}. stand many attacks of it, if they folio
a closely upon one another; and the strengl
10 which four or five days are sufficient
y pull down is not rebuilt again for mont
e or more.