Chapter 11 of the spoken word version of Caposcripti by Zelda Rhiando
http://www.caposcripti.com

11. Fever

April 09–
Today I saw a striking bird & had a strange sensation of deja vue. Although it seemed new & strange, being of a genus I have not encountered before, & at same time it was strangely familiar, as though I had already seen it somewhere. & thus I am combing my Journal for a reference to it, & yes – just days ago I had sketched it & have already forgotten both that & what else?

My senses are much disordered; & I am much plagued by stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, sweats, & all the other consequences of my experiments in the edible. Each episode a painful lesson in the vocabulary of sustenance, a language I must learn soon if I am not to perish from want of food. Twould be an irony to starve in the midst of such natural plenty.

April 11–
A nasty shock today – I think my reactions slowing. Nearly stepped on a fer-de-lance – a snake of a highly poisonous variety (although I hear that the Indians make an antidote of the plant of the same name, which mashed and applied as a poultice, produces a speedy cure) This threw me off balance, the hand I threw out to catch myself landing almost dead square in a column of biting ants.

My diet is still very poor, though I have found breadfruits to eat. The mosquitoes are very plaguesome. I must keep myself covered from head-to-toe to avoid their bites. That & the bloodsucking of leaches & ticks have left me prey to recurrent fevers, which take me out of myself for days, wavering between unconsciousness & vivid hallucinations, so that I no longer know where, or who, I am. Either of those small mistakes could be fatal to me out here, & who knows if anyone will ever discover my rotted bones, the rusted remains of
a beltbuckle, the gold of my pocket watch perhaps all that remains after all else has decayed?

April 14–
I could not swear that is the correct date I see visions, and hear unexplained sounds. Flashes of coppery faces, strangely ornamented and tattooed, alternated with a speech seemingly composed of clicks and vowels, singing and whistling, the smell of smoke and headgear made of feathers. I feel another fever coming on.

Hard to tell what is dream and what reality; hallucinating caused by fever or hunger? Someone (or something?) is watching me. I feel eyes always upon my back. I hope to God they are friendly eyes, as I have become weak as a kitten.

http://www.caposcripti.com

Chapter 11: Fever

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