1 being pestered nt the Cape by beggars, a peculiarity I (Jo not
2 recollect to have mot with in any other place I visited in my
3 travels.
4 On pur arrival at the Cape, the harvest season was just over,
5 and we were able, on our walks through the town, or ir country
6 excursions, to refresh ourselves with some of the most delirious
7 grapes I ever tasted. To some of my readers, it may, at lust,
8 appear strange, that the harvest season should be over so early in
9 the year as April; but, be it remembered, the Gape is in
10 the southern hemisphere, where the seasons are precisely the
11 rei erse of ours; January being the hottest, and July the coldest
12 month of the year. After a stay of four days, we again put
13 to sea, having, during that time, taken in a supply of fresh
14 water, poultry, &c. but we had not long been out of sight
15 of land, when our poultry were attacked by an epizootic,
16 and destroyed, so that we were obliged to call at St. Helena,
17 to procure fresh provisions. There were a few cases of death
18 oh hoard, viz. some invalids nnd a sailor who had been noto¬
19 rious for his immoderate drinking. The bodies were, accord¬
20 ing to the custom of mariners, wrapped in linen cloths, and
21 weights having been attached, they were committed to the
22 deep, accompanied with prayers.
23 I'esidea these cases of disease, which terminated fatally,
24 tliere were a few others, with regard to the treatment of
25 which 1 was consulted. I may mention two of them, as the
26 diseases frequently occur, and I had the good fortune to ex¬
27 tricate the ship's surgeon from an embarrassment respecting
28 them. The first was that of a testy old colonel, who, accord¬
29 ing to bis own assertion, was troubled with severe rheumatic
30 pains to such a degree, that lie was on the verge of despair. Tn
31 ■his perplexity he addressed himself to me, with the avow.il,
32 that the medicines lie got from the surgeon were not worth
33 a pennv, and that if 1 could not assist him, he must die. I
34 asked him, whether he had ever been affected with syphilitic
35 disease, which lie admitted to have been the case many years
36 before. I, therefore, acquainted the surgeon with this eiienm-