576 LKAVES l-'ICOM A LOG. 



brifuge quality. She also obtained from my house a mosquito-net; 

 and the sick man reposed comfortably. I recommended him to en- 

 deavour to sleep, and cautioned him to speak as little as he could, to 

 keep his arm in a sling, and, above all, I entreated him not to talk 

 of his former mode of life. 



" You have been long with your patient," said Albert to me, as 

 I entered the house ; " your overseer has given me such an interest- 

 ing account of his half-insane, yet superior style of language, and 

 prepossessing looks, that I should like to visit this poor man." 



" You cannot at present. I have just bled him, and his inflamed 

 state renders it necessary that he should be kept as quiet as possible." 

 I said this to avoid a meeting which might bring on a recognition ; 

 but recollecting, that by being too cautious, I might cause the very 

 event I wished to prevent, I added, " In the evening, when he be- 

 comes more composed, we will visit him ; in the meantime I will 

 dispatch a messenger to Port of Spain for a physician." 

 . The town of Port of Spain, the reader should be informed, lay 

 about sixty miles off, "as the crow flies :" but there is an almost im- 

 passable lagoon between on the land side ; while, if one goes by sea, 

 he has to encounter a wind that generally blows in his teeth, and a 

 contrary current caused by the influx of the Orinoco. The best way 

 of getting to town is by performing one half of the way on land, 

 over bad roads, and at the " Pitch Lake" to get a small vessel to 

 to carry you the remainder of the journey ; which would take alto- 

 gether three days to accomplish. Should it be wondered at why a 

 quarter so isolated should not have a medical man, the reader must 

 consider that so thinly inhabited was this district of the colony, that 

 several divisions of it could afford practice but to one physician ; and 

 that Dr. M , who used to reside down here, had just died; hav- 

 ing lost his life in attending two patients who lived twenty-six miles 

 apart ; both being dangerously ill, the one with a locked jaw, and the 

 other with the yellow fever. 



As evening approached, the sailor became more composed, and 

 fell into a slumber. I thought this a good opportunity to permit 

 Albert to visit him. As his state was such as to allow me to forbid 

 all conversation, I conceived it morally impossible that any recogni- 

 tion could take place between the parties after sixteen years separation, 

 by their merely viewing each other ; and by allowing the interview, 

 I should avoid that appearance of mystery which I dreaded would 

 lead to a discovery. We entered on tiptoe, with noiseless tread: 

 the pirate lay asleep ; the side of the net was pinned up ; and old 

 Quashila, the attentive nurse, was cooling him with an Indian fan, 

 made of strips of bamboo. Cautiously my friend drew near, and 

 regarded him with deep concern ; when, the sick man, opening his 

 eyes, beheld the countenance of Albert: immediately his features 

 changed from their composed state, and assumed the deep traits of 

 terror ; his mouth was thrown open, and his haif bristled up. After 

 a momentary pause, he articulated, et My father !'' and buried his 

 head in the pillow. A violent fit of ague shook his frame to that 

 degree, that we felt the slight floor tremble under us. Alarmed, I 

 hurried Albert from the chamber of the unhappy man; alleging, 



