OF AN ENGLISH WHALER. 129 



get some fresh provisions for his patients. I 

 immediately furnished the boat with an ample 

 supply both of fresh meat and vegetables, and 

 having completed its little cargo, it proceeded 

 again to sea forthwith. The next day the 

 whaler succeeded in getting into the bay, and 

 came to anchor close alongside. It was evident, 

 from their manner of working the vessel, that she 

 had but few hands on board capable of labour. 

 The captain, who shortly afterwards visited me, 

 was himself suffering severely, and his mates 

 were all confined to their beds ; seven months 

 the vessel had been at sea off the Japanese coast, 

 holding no communication with the shore ; and 

 this without having succeeded in the capture of 

 a single whale, though numbers of them had 

 been seen on the coast. The scurvy with which 

 the crew was afflicted, was mainly attributable 

 to unwholesome food, selected on a principle 

 of unpardonable economy, and to the want of 

 cleanliness ; a vice not usual among the Eng 

 lish, but which, during so long an absence 

 from land, is scarcely to be avoided ; not the 

 slightest symptom of this fearful malady, for- 

 G 5 



