On the return trip, they again are captured in Jolliginki. In appreciation, the monkeys find the pushmi-pullyu, a shy two-headed gazelle-unicorn cross, whose rarity may bring Dr. He vaccinates the well monkeys and nurses the sick back to health. The band barely escapes by ruse, but makes it to the monkey kingdom where things are dire indeed as a result of the raging epidemic. On the way to the monkey kingdom, his band is arrested by the king of Jolliginki, a victim of European exploitation who wants no white men travelling in his country. He has to borrow supplies and a ship, and sails with a crew of his favourite animals, but is shipwrecked upon arriving to Africa. He is conscripted into voyaging to Africa to cure a monkey epidemic just as he faces bankruptcy. His fortunes rise and fall again after a crocodile takes up residence, leading to his sister leaving in disgust with the intention of getting married, but his fame in the animal kingdom spreads throughout the world. But after learning the secret of speaking to all animals from his parrot Polynesia, he takes up veterinary practice. His love of animals grows over the years and his household menagerie eventually scares off his human clientele, leading to loss of wealth. John Dolittle, MD, is a respected physician and quiet bachelor living with his spinster sister Sarah in the small English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. It was one of the novels in the series which was adapted into the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle. The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts (1920), written and illustrated by the British author Hugh Lofting, is the first of his Doctor Dolittle books, a series of children's novels about a man who learns to talk to animals and becomes their champion around the world. The doctor in this first book takes a ship to Africa to cure the animals there.The Story of Doctor Dolittle at Wikisource

He also owns a gazelle-unicorn cross called 'pushmi-pullyu' ('push-me-pull-you') that has two heads, one at the back and one at the front of the body. He owns a parrot called Polynesia, a pig called Gub-Gub, a dog called Jip, a duck called Dab-Dab, a monkey called Chee-Chee, an owl called Too-Too, and a white mouse named 'Whitey'. He has many friends, like Tommy Stubbins and Matthew Mugg, the Cats'-Meat Man.

Dolittle lives in the English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in the West Country. He starts treating animals instead of human patients. The Story of Doctor Dolittle is about a doctor who can speak with the animals in their own languages. This book is the first in a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting. The Story of Doctor Dolittle is a 1920 book about Doctor John Dolittle and his animals.

The story of doctor dolittle 1920