- missariat officer jumped up, ejecting the fluid from
his mouth and exclaimed:—
"Good heavens—I'm poisoned."
I had a most horrible taste in my mouth, and tried to say, "What's the matter?" but found I could only make a sound like "mum—mum—mum"; while the others demanded an immediate explanation and an antidote from the man of science.
He said it was nothing: it was only something he had put in the water to purify it: it was quite harmless.
That was all very well, but it had made us all feel ill, and what he had used was such a violent astringent that I could not partake of any of the dinner except the soup, and that I had to take through a straw. The surgeon appeared very proud of his achievement, though it seemed to me that it was not of much use to purify water for drinking purposes if it was made undrinkable in the process. I have no liking for such theoretical scientists.
We reached Cape Coast next day at noon, where we found that during our short absence seven officers had been invalided to England, all but one of whom had been living in the hired houses in the town.
On April 28th there was a formal meeting at Elmina between the Ashanti embassy, the Adansis, and some of the chiefs of the protectorate, among the
