1768'.
Pebruary.-
The firft expenee being great, and it appearing, upon'enquiry,
that many of our people had never had the fmalt-
pox, fo that the inqreafe was'likely to be confiderable, :belides
the danger, I requelled the Governor’s permiflion to eredl a
tent upon a fpacious plain, at about two miles diflance from
the town, called Green Point, and to fend my people on
fhore thither during the day, under the care of an officer, to
prevent their draggling. This permiffion the Governor immediately
granted, and gave orders that they ffiould fuffer
no moleftation.
In this place, therefore, 1 ordered tents to be erefted, and
the Surgeon and his mate, with proper officersy to attend ;
at the fame time ftridtly charging that no man ffiould be
fuffered to go into the town, and that no liquor ffiould be
brought to the tents. All the lick, except two, left the ffiip
-early in the morning, with their provifions and firing; and
for thofe that were reduced to great weaknefs, I ordered the
Surgeon to procure fuch extraordinary provifions as he
ffiould think proper, particularly milk, though it was fold
at an exceffive price. About fix in the evening, they returned
on board, and feemed to be greatly refreffied. At
the fame time, being extremely ill myfelf, I was obliged to
be put on fhore, and carried about eight miles up the country,
where I continued all the time the ffiip lay here ; and
when ffie was ready to fail, returned on board without having
received the leaf! benefit.
No time, however, was loft in refitting the veffel: the fails
were all unbent, the yards and top-marts ftruck, the forge
was fet up, the carpenters were employed in caulking, the
fail-makers in mending the fails, the cooper in repairing the
calks, the people in over-hauling the rigging, and the boats
in-filling water.
By
By the 10th o f February, the heavy work being nearly F^68’
dil’patched, twenty o f the men who had had the fmall-pox, —
were permitted to go alhore at the town, and others, who
were ftill liable to the diftemper, were landed at fome
diftance, with orders to go into the country, and return in
the evening, which they punctually obeyed: this liberty,
therefore, was continued to them all the while the veffel lay
at this port, which produced fo good an effieft, that the ffiip’s
company, except the fick, who recovered very fall, had a
more healthy and vigorous appearance than when they left
England. We purchafed here the neceffaries that we endeavoured
to procure at Batavia, at a reafonable. price, befides
canvas and other ftores; we alfo procured, freffi water by
diftillation, principally to .ffiew the captains of the India-
men, and their officers, that, upon an emergency, wholefome
water might be procured at fea. At five o’clock in the
morning, we put fifty-fix gallons o f fait water into the ftill,
at feven it began to run, and in about five hours and a quarter
afforded us two and forty gallons o f freffi water, at an
expence of nine pounds of wood, and fixty-nine pounds of
coals. Thirteen gallons and two quarts remained in the
ftill, and that which came off had no ill talle, nor, as we had
often experienced, any hurtful quality. I’ thought the
ffiewing this experiment of the more confequenee, as the
being able to allow plenty of water not only for drink, but
for boiling any kind o f provifion, and'even for making tea
and coffee, efpecially during long voyages, and in hot climates,
conduces greatly to health, and is the means of faving
many lives. I never once put my people to an allowance of
water during this whole voyage, always ufing the ftill when
we were reduced to five and forty tons, and preferving the
rain water with the utmoft diligence. I did not, however,
allow water to be fetched away at pleafure, but the officer of
7 tll£-