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surd precaution they thought it necessary to take,
by receiving the piece of paper, which contained the
particidars respecting our yacht, betAveen a pair of
nippers or tAveezers, and immediately plunging it
into the sea, as a substitution, I suppose, for the
usual process of fumigation. We Avere immediately
desired to hoist the green flag, and told that no one
could be allowed to land, nor any kind of communication
he heldAvith the shore ; and the next morning
Ave Avere duly informed that Ave must perform
four days’ quarantine, as Ave Avere unable to produce
a clean bill of health—a precaution Avhich,
as Ave had not come from any infected port, Ave
had not thought of taking, having no reason to
expect that such a demand would have been made
upon us.
This strict observance of the rules of quarantine,
Avhich Avas, perhaps, very right and proper, was the
more vexations, as Ave Avere all in a high state of
health on board the y a c h t; whereas Ave were told
that, on shore, the small-pox Avas raging Avith great
violence. Our poor pilot had informed us, as Ave
entered the fiord, that he had lost two of his children
by this disease a fcAV weeks previous ; and he
now learnt, from the quarantine officers, that his
daughter, Avho was a servant-girl at Tronyem,
Avas lying dangerously ill—in fact, at the point of
death. The poor man Avas sadly overcome at this
intelligence, and, Avith tears in his eyes, implored
the officers to be alloAved to go o on shore,^ to see her
before she should be for ever parted from him in
this Avorld; but his request Avas unheeded, or, at
least, could not be complied Avith; and, on the day
previous to our release, he received the melancholy
intelligence of her death. The refusal to let him
land appeared to us unfeeling enough, but Ave were
not competent judges of whatAvas deemed necessary
for the public safety, having, fortunately, in our
happy countiy very little occasion to place either
its own subjects or foreigners under such restraint.
We all of us felt deeply for the poor felloAV, and
could not help contrasting the joy Avith Avhich he
first put his foot on board the yacht, and his present
forlorn condition. In the early part of our
passage up the fiord, Avhen his son returned on
board Avith his father’s clothes, some of his vounger I / O
brothers accompanied him, Avho all appeared to
have recently had the disease. As a great treat,
he begged th a t he might be allowed to give his
children a little of the ship’s biscuit; and on leaving
the A’essel at Tronyem, he also requested that he
might take a feAv home with him, to give to his
family.
We had not been here long in a state of confinement,
before we received an unexpected and most
Avelcome visit from Mr. Broder Knudtzon and Mr.
Oveson, Avho most kindly came on board, and Avere
of course obliged to remain and keep quarantine
Avith us—an instance of disinterested generosity