Wednesday
Nov 3
1926

Another dreary rainy morning. Dick went out to see if he could get the cassowary he had seen on an early morning hunt yesterday while Doc and I were down having our morning bath in the small river adjacent to camp. When [sic, = Then] Dick came down the high bank [going] a hundred miles an hour. He had run into a batch of bees. He evidently had stirred them up going through the jungle and they attacked him. He had had a similar experience yesterday morning but only one had bit him, and when he returned to camp he had suffered slight cramps in his stomach. This morning however, he was bitten in a dozen or more places and complained of another stomach acke [sic]. It continued to get worse so I came up to get Oompah to make a hot cup of tea for him. Matt came running up a short time later and said Dick was in terrible pain. We secured some pills in our medicine kit for stomach ache and hurried down. Dick was doubled up on the ground and in terrible agony. Gave him one of the pills. You could see he was suffering untold agony for he couldn’t straighten out and it brought tears to his eyes. We got the doctor’s assistant who had just arrived on the last transport and with the help of Matt they helped him back to camp. He was all in and could just about make it without being carried, although once of [sic, = or] twice his feet did give way on him entirely. He felt better when he walked so they walked him around camp and then put him to bed against his {F4.85} protests. He had become thoroughly soaked in the rain of the morning and the Doc’s assistant dried him out[,] put on heavy dry underwear and wrapped him up in warm blankets. By this time it just started to perculate [sic] through our heads that it was a poisoning from the bees that had affected his entire system. Yesterday’s one bee bite had raised a large lump on his head just behind the ear. A dozen or more had surely injected considerable poison and was responsible for his cramps. The Malay Doctor’s assistant rubbed ammonia on the bites and gave him several sniffs of it as a bracer and an hour or so later he was feeling better. The attack of course left him unusually weak. Matt said the bees were somewhat similar to the yellow jackes [sic] he and Perry had had expreience [sic] with in S.A. We saw one of the bees which had been inside Dick’s shirt[;] it was a small yellow one and from its appearance did not appear as dangerous as one of our honey bees. Shortly before noon about a dozen of new Pygmies arrived from Imabaa, according to them, but according to Igoone they were from Towasse. Why they both declared this difference and stuck to it diligently we were unable to determine. They had brought many prize possessions and Matt was kept busy most of the afternoon trading. They were all consistently small[,] more so than any others we’ve seen to date. The transport which [we] had rather expected with Prince did not arrive. It rained again later in the afternoon so we were unable to shoot any pictures. Jordans visited us and we had an interesting conversation on matrimonial subjects[,] he being in the frame of mind to take unto himself a wife when he returns and was open to advise [sic]. The advice he received was the customary advice which he will not follow. Never-the-less it was an interesting discussion.