C H A P . V.
Proceedings at St. Catherine s, and a defcription of the
place, with a fhort account of Brazil.
O'UR firft cart, after having moored ouflhips, was-to .get
our tick men on fhore; 'preparatory 'to 'which, each (hip
Was o r d e r e d by'the Commodore‘to erefl; two tents-: one-of
them for the reception of the diftafed, and the other for the accommodation
‘df the furgeon and bis affiftsnts. We fent about
eighty fick from the Centurion; and the other fhips, I believe, lent
dearly as many, inpropoftion to the number of their hands. A-sfoon
ps '<ve had perfbrmeilthre nectfiary duty, weferaped our decks, and
<*ave our fhip k thorough dleanfibg; then fffiokedut between-decks,
and, after all, waftied every part well with 'vinegar. Thefe operations
were extremely neceffary, for correfting the noifome flench
on board, and deftroying the vermin ; for, from the number of our
men, and the heat o f the climate, both thefe nufances _ had g g
creafed upon us to a very loathfome degree; and, befides beingmoft
intolerably offenfive,’ they were doubtlefs in feme fort productive of
the ficknefs we had laboured under, for a confiderable time, before
©ur arrival at this I (land.
Our next employment was wooding and watering our iquadron,
caulking our flflps fides and decks, overhauling our rigging, and
fecuring our mafts againft the tempeftuous weather we were, in all
probability, to meet with in our paflage round Cape Horn, in fo advanced
and inconvenient a feafon. But before I engage in the particulars
of thefe tranfaftions, it will not be improper to give feme
account of the prefent ftate of this Ifland of St .-Catherine's, and of
the neighbouring country ; both as the circumftances of this place
are now greatly changed from what they were in the time of former
writers; and as thefe changes laid us under many more difficulties