1/ SO. THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 433 



were attacked with teazing coughs ; others complained 

 of violent pains in the head ; and even the healthiest 

 among us felt a sensation of suffocating heat, attended 

 by an insufferable languor, and a total loss of appe- 

 tite. But though our situation was, for a time, thus 

 uneasy and alarming, we had, at last, the singular 

 satisfaction of escaping from these fatal seas without 

 the loss of a single life ; a circumstance which was 

 probably owing in part to the vigorous health of the 

 crews when we first arrived here, as well as to the 

 strict attention now become habitual in our men, to 

 the salutary regulations introduced amongst us by 

 Captain Cook. 



On our leaving Prince's Island, and during the 

 whole time of our run from thence to the Cape of 

 Good Hope, the crew of the Resolution was in a 

 much more sickly state than that of the Discovery ; 

 for, though many of us continued for some time com- 

 plaining of the effects of the noxious climate we had 

 left, yet happily we all recovered from them. Of the 

 two who had been ill of fevers, one, after being 

 seized with violent convulsions on the 12th of Feb- 

 ruary, which made us despair of his life, was relieved 

 by the application of blisters, and was soon after out 

 of danger. The other recovered, but more slowly. 

 On board the Resolution, besides the obstinate 

 coughs and fevers under which they very generally 

 laboured, a great many were afflicted with fluxes, the 

 number of whom, contrary to our expectations, con- 

 tinued increasing till our arrival at the Cape. 



Captain Gore attributed this difference in part, 

 and probably with some reason, to the Discovery 

 having her fire-place between decks ; the heat and 

 smoke of which he conceived might help to mitigate 

 the bad effects of the damp night air. But I am 

 rather inclined to believe that we escaped the flux 

 by the precautions that were taken to prevent our 

 catching it from others. For if some kinds of fluxes 

 be, as I apprehend there is no doubt they are, con- 



VOL. VII. F F 



