J*w77i4Y--.. being ftill faintly in fight, nearly at the fame diftance.
Our (hips now perfeftly refembled an hofpital; the poifoned
patients were ftill in a deplorable fituation ; they continued
to have gripes, and acute pains in all their bones: in the
day time they were in a manner giddy, and felt a great
heavinefs- in their heads; at night, as foon as they were
warm in bed, their pains redoubled^ and robbed them entirely
of deep. The feeretion oi faliva was exceflive; the
fkin peeled off from the whole body, and pimples appeared:
on their hands. Thofe who were lefs afflifted with pain
were much weaker in proportion, and crawled about the
decks, emaciated to mere fhadows. We had not one lieutenant
able to do duty; and as one of the mates, and ftveral
of the midfliipmen were likewife ill, the watches were commanded
by the gunner and the other mates. The dogs
which had unfortunately fed upon the fame fifh, were in a>
ffill worfe condition, as we could not give them any relief.
They groaned and panted moft piteoufly, drank great quantities
of water, and appeared to be tortured with pain.
Thofe which had eaten of the entrails were infinitely more
affeifted than the reft. One of thefe poor creatures was
doomed to be a martyr, being the fame upon which we
tried the Mallicollefe arrows; however, he luckily got the
better of both thefe attacks, and was brought to England.
It is remarkable, that captain Quiros complains of a fort of
filh, which he calls pargos, that poifoned great part of his
crew,
crew, in the bay of St. Philip and St. James. Nothing is
more probable, than that it was of the fame fpeeies, pargos
being the Spanilh name of the, fea-bream (pagrus.) It is to
be fufpetffed, at the fame time, that thefe fifties are not
always poifonous, but, like many fpeeies in the Weft andEaft
Indies, may acquire that quality, by feeding on poifonous vegetables.
The circumftance, that the inteftines were more
poifonous than the reft, feems to confirm this fuppofition ;
the greateft part of the venom remaining in the prima via
whilft only a fmall part was carried into the mufcles, by
the chyle and blood.
We had had very mild weather after leaving Mallicollo,
but the trade-wind had blown frefh from time to time. At
prefent, however, being in fight of this new ifland, we were
flopped by light airs and faint breezes. All the next day Thur(aa
we lay becalmed, and rolled about very uncomfortably, being
fet to the northward feveral leagues by a current. In
the evening we difeovered another ifland very far off to the
fouth-eaftward, of which for the prefent we took no notice.
The day after we obtained a breeze towards noon, which Friday ,9i
continued till the next day in the evening, and brought us Saturda o
within fix leagues of the land. In the afternoon one of
the dogs, lefs affected with the poifon of the fifh than the
reft, being quite recovered, we determined to try another
experiment with the poifon of the Mallicollefe arrow. An
incifion was made with a lancet in his thigh, and the refinousi