S?2 N A R1 A T I V E O F K t
C HAP. ' rewarded by the prefervation o fm y life, principally owing
xxx. tQ their unremitting care and attention, while' fuch numbers
fell all. around me, and' more were ruined in their
conltitution, the, ftrbSlims o f the climate and the fervice,
fome having lo ll the ufe o f their limbs* and fome o f their
. memory ; nay, one or two were entirely deprived o f their
. -mental faculties, and continued in a ftate o f incurable in-
fanity for ever.
In Ihort, out of the number o f near twelve hundred
able-bodied men,, not one hundred returned to their
friends and their country: and perhaps not twenty
amongft thefc were to be found in perfect health. A-
mong >the dead were (including the furgeons) between
twenty and thirty officers; three o f which number wore
colonels, and one a m a j o r $0 vei^ ^e^udtiye, was- the
dfervice to ■ Europeans in fuch a climate;
jnuft be the refult o f the moft fuccefsful operations in the
unwholefome atmofphere o f woods and marfhes.
One or two remarks I muft make before I conclude
this fubje£t, which are Eirft, that among the. officers
and private men who had formerly been in the ^eft- Indies,
none died, while among the whole number o f above
.one thoufand privates, I . can only recollect one fingle marine
who efeaped from ficknefs; and next, that o f the few
belonging to the corps that were now on' their voyage for
theTexel (thofegentlemen alone excepted, who at this time
belonged to the ftaff) I myfelf was the only officer who
had failed out with the regiment in 17^2. This laft was a
pleadn g
3*3
tdeafing« reSe^tion indeed,' and ivhich could not bu£ render chap.
me fincerely thankful to Providence. l _ ‘ ,
; i^houVthe 14th of April, having pallhd the Trbpick^ and
dianged^G'dUUfe to -N.N. E. and N. wdw-erfe hecalmed
for foffi^d&ysif'f ought hhf* to omit that when in about
15 degrees' N'.'fetifude, we failed through what & vulgarly
calledthe Qrdp^ea, from rt^-heing oove»d'lG^r.Wath‘a
floating kind of green: arid yellow weed, | called gulph -
weeds i'fome of which*-When dried'in the fun, and fpread
bfetl'vihHft tWd 'fheets of paper* afevery curious, refemhling ,
trees, flowers, IhrubSs,- Sscrand in which are harboured
fmall cruftaeeous fifli, fcollops,., mtflcle^T^and: fhells o f
manythoufetid different fpeties. Among the laff is often,
found fh a f Wdnderful leaTeptile*called xh&PippQcampuSt:
or fea-hbrfeiuwhich I could compare to nothing, better
than the chevalier *q£- -Si 'ctiepfboard\ though fit is,gene*-
rally largfer, and fonietimes eight or nine inches inylCngth.
The body.’Mtconlpofcd of cartilaginous rings; the head,,
fhout, and mane'kreilncrufted all over; aaicplthe tail,,
which is curvated.upwards m the figusd of an S$ tcrrai--
nates in a point. f" *
On the* 19th, the calm ftill continuing, we were daily
entertained bfTwarms of flymg filh, and feveral doiadoes
and giampuffes<fwimming; and tumbling before and after
the fliips, ias -if delighting - to keep us company. . Tire
:'gramp'us\$2<. fifho’f'the- cetaceous kind, fomething re-
fefiibluig' thb dolphin*. but much l a f f i^ a i l i approaching
the Whale in fize^' forne being near twenty feet in length,
andprodigiouffy fa t ., This fifli has forty firon'g teeth; ia of
a.dark.