340 N A R R A T I V E OF A N
E X P E D IT T ON T O
" Convulfions, egilepfies, fierce catarrhs 5
“ Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
“ And moon-ffruck madnefs j pining atrophy,
« Dropfies, and afthmas, and joint-racking rheums :
“ Dire was the tolling, deep the groansj delpair
“ Tended the fick,' bufieft from couch to couch.
“ And over them triumphant Death his dart
« Shook, but delay’d to ftrike, though oft invok’d
*f With vows, as their chief good and final hope.”
From day to day mortality now gained ground, while
by fome accident, to compleat the' diftrefs, part «of. the
camp got on fire; but .this was'fortunately- extinguifhed
without any material ill confequences, by the^ a&ivity and
exertions of the poor negroes.
On theabth my mifery, however, drew towards an endV
when, to my aftonilhment,. and without my afking^if,
Colonel Fourgeoud gave me, a leave of abfence, if I chofe
it, to accompany him, and ftay henceforth at Paramaribo;
which, withouthefitation, I moft joyfully accepted. Thus,
having made my friend Captain Small a prefent of my
bou fe,, my R a n e la g b r and all. my frejh:, p ro v ifio n s, b zMf i s
entertained him and fome other officers on a difti of
mountain-cabbage, and my g ro e -g ro e worms, which were
juft come to perfection,, befides a hearty glafs of wine,.
I took my laft adieu from them all; and at midnight, w ith
Colonel Fourgeoud,, rowed down the River Cottica in an,
elegant barge with ten oars, in company with two, more
of his officers.— And now farewell once, more*-ye ffiady.
woods,,
woods, thou; pleafing gloomy foreft, pregnant with fo c h a p .
many wónders, and fo many plagues, and which, in the _ _ j
opinion of fo many fufferers, evpa furpafled the ten
■ plagmh of:;Egypt l T* •;
—.................“ I have lent among you the pefHlence after the
! “ manner of Egypt: you!1 young men have I flain with the fword—
« I have, made the ftxnk of , your camps to come up unto your
u noffrils.:,,yet have "ye not'returned unto me, faith the Lord."
The boat_.being fhoved offj Colonel Fourgeoud now
declared tp us,, that having ranfacked the foreft in every
<dire(ftiöHy and driven the rebels oyer the Marawina in
E a y enM iih e . yfcasij determined no more to return to the
woods, but in. a few weeks to draw the long and painful
expedition to a conchifion.
v Now* reader, Lt remains with ypu to acknowledge that
I have not .led you abou t th £ b u jb y but tbropigh ity with indefatigable.
perfeverance :-, the more fo, when it is to be
.confidered; thaf: in the middle of the above hurry and
diftrejfè,,.under whieh ifo many havès funk, I have often
•he.en dfpriyei in k , ^ p a p er to. make proper annotationsWhich
laft I have even more than once
fupplied by writing with a pencil on my cartridges, pr on
a b l e a c h e d - : had this not been unavoidably the
cafej m o r e accuracy and many more.remarks might with.
* Should it be remarked that during
this expedition fome unehriftian-like' ex-
prefljoils have efcaped, let; it be at die
feme time recollected,; that while fur«.
geons and even cooks, though both of lit—
tie ufe, had been provided, nothing like-
a f ftr fit was ever feen amongft us, from,
the day we failed from the T e x e ljuftice.