having succumbed to insufficient food. But, as I have said, I found myself detained by a different cause, and I had to apply myself to my old profession to recover various losses that I had sustained.
I have a most grateful remembrance of the kindness I received from many of the resident families, and their cordiality did much to alleviate the temporary difficulties by which I was harassed.
Before I finally made up my mind to settle for a few months in the town, I remained quartered in my waggon about half a mile further up the opposite bank of the Fish River. I soon had about twenty patients, and had to ride into Cradock several times a day. My horse Mosco did me good service, although on one occasion he very nearly came to grief.
There were two rain-channels that had to be crossed before arriving at the bridge; these were more than three feet deep, and I was told that after a very few hours’ rain they were filled with the water that rushed down from the slopes of the hills, amid a cluster of which the town is situated. After fourteen months’ drought, when I had been in my retreat about six weeks, there came a succession of wet days; the consequence was that both channels were quickly filled with muddy water, in one stream nearly red, in the other nearly yellow. One morning at this time I was summoned to the town, but patients in such numbers had come to consult me at my waggon that I could not set out until the afternoon. The Fish River roared at my side, but I kept on my way, and crossed the first of the little affluents in safety; but on arriving at the second I found a
