Post 27 Building a casco, an ignorant doctor, pasancas and a friendly frog invasion.

In late November, Jim was able to purchase a casco, a hollowed-out cedar tree trunk about 24' long, 1 1/2" thick, and spread by fire to about 3'6" wide.  For a casco this was small, but wider than a canoe (a plain hollowed-out log not spread by fire that rolled too dangerously for a motor). 

Through an Arab merchant, Jim was able to order some tins of gasoline to come from Brazil by river, making the freight less costly than by air from Cochabamba.  A few of the tins arrived leaking, being rusted by the tropics, but as gasoline was hard to get we were thankful to have it.

The wet season had set in with plenty of mud and water all around and for the next few weeks Jim was busy getting the casco ready for travel on the river.  

He had to cut down and shape a big propeller to suit the motor, also make the keel fit the propeller shaft to the motor with a universal joint. A number of oxcart trips had to be made to the river, to try out the motor on the casco until everything was properly adjusted.

In the evenings, Jim was concentrating on open-air meetings, except for Sundays when we had the indoor meeting.  Now that I had Lucille it was not possible for me to go to night meetings, but it was good to see a few young lads willing to support Jim in the work.  

Sales of scriptures were improving, and there were a few interested enquirers about spiritual things.  During this time, the town had a visit from the catholic bishop of the Beni, and his arrival was accompanied with the usual procession.  

As he passed our place he strutted along the other side of the road and kept his eyes averted from the big text on the wall of the house.  During his time in town, Jim kept up a campaign of nightly open-air meetings.

An ignorant doctor

Shortly before Christmas, as Lucille had a heavy cold that showed no sign of improvement, we called in the young army doctor to examine her chest. He proved to be an alarmist, put in some injections and gave her two tablets that upset her stomach, causing her to vomit a couple of feeds.  

After having continually contradicted himself in his statements, he told us that she was dangerously ill, asked us to give her some penicillin injections, and a few minutes later pronounced her cured. Then he put in his bill, which was far too much for his services, and the bill stated that he had cured her of bronchial pneumonia. 

Actually Lucille had not had any of the symptoms nor a rise in temperature. He had not once taken her temperature, but I had kept a check on it unbeknown to him.  

His orders were to keep the child shut up in the room, and only those who have lived in those damp humid rooms could know what that would be like. 

Lucille was not to have her clothes changed nor to have a wash. We certainly were a bit dismayed when the doctor told us that he did not go by medical books but by his wide experience. 

We were glad to pay his bill and be rid of him as neither his statements nor his diagnosis could be trusted.  In answer to prayer and with careful treatment and fresh air, in about a week Lucille was well again - her bright happy little self, after her ordeal with the doctor!

Pasancas, grubs and a friendly frog invasion. 

With the wet season, the invasion of reptiles and insects was once more upon us.  In our yard Jim killed a deadly coral snake about 3' long, coloured in segments of red, black and white.  Big black hair pasancas, a type of trap-door spider and poisonous like a snake, invaded our house, and we killed a number of them.  

However, there were not so many of the weird and varied species of grubs, mainly because of the scores of frogs that moved before us in an army along the verandah each evening and even sometimes visited us inside the house.  They ate a tremendous quantity of grubs and grew to an enormous size, but we welcomed them as friends!  

It was not surprising then that Jim should discover a well-decayed frog's body behind a cupboard leg in a corner of the kitchen.  We had wondered where the smell was coming from.

To give Lucille protection and also cool comfort, we designed her cot with these things in mind.  Standing on high legs, the side slits were widely spaced and the whole of the sides were covered with fly-wire gauze.  A mosquito net then covered only the top.  

In later years we made the four corner posts quite high, covered the cot entirely with wire gauze, and had a section on one side hinged to open outwards for access.