THE DISEASES Ol' THE CREW. ^31 



CHAP. VII. 



VOYAGE FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS BY WAY OF 

 RADACK TO OONALASHKA. 



NO SICKNESSES. 



-Now tliere appears in my journal another fortu- 

 nate interval of four months, in which there were 

 no internal complaints produced by changes in the 

 state of the air. 



During our stay in the chain of coral islands, 

 Ratlack, where we made frequent trips in our boats, 

 in the lagoon, surrounded by islands and reefs, 

 the spray of the sea-water, wliich was very salt, 

 (its specific gravity was 1,0285,) and the burning 

 sun caused the lips to swell and crack, and also 

 produced inflammation in the eyes. Some had 

 diarrhoea, from too frequently eating young cocoa- 

 nuts. 



I cannot here omit to remark, that on our return 

 from one of these excursions in the boat, with a 

 pretty fresh wind, a sailor was seized with such a 

 cliilliness, that he trembled in all his limbs, and 

 his teeth chattered, while all the rest felt it too 

 warm. This sailor, who was about forty years of 

 age, had before this voyage had the bad custom, 

 so prevalent among the common people, of getting 

 himself blooded several times in the year. At the 



r 



