BURYING A SCURVY PATIENT. 201 



without potatoes, the greatest anti scoi butic, 

 the supply we obtained at Tristan de Acunha, 

 having with proper management lasted us till we 

 cr.tered Antongil Bay. But of the crew of the 

 Jas. Rodgers, several were beginning to exhibit 

 evidences of the disease, in their swollen limbs and 

 dilatoiy movements, and one poor fellow was 

 already confined to his berth. 



When it was found that there was no hope ot 

 obtaining fresh provisions from the shore, it was 

 determined to bury this man, a mode of cure which 

 is practiced only in extreme cases, but which gen 

 orally proves successful having this disadvan- 

 tage, however, that where it does not cure, it kills. 



A little shed was built on shore, beneath which 

 a hole was dug in the ground sufficiently large to 

 contain the sick man in a sitting posture. In this 

 he was placed about ten o'clock one morning, 

 when the rains had ceased unusually early. The 

 ground was then loosely thrown about him, until 

 he was covered up, leaving nothing but the head 

 exposed. He remained here until sunset, when 

 he was taken out and conveyed to his berth on 

 board, in a state of great exhaustion. In a few 

 days ho regained strength sufficient to walk about 

 decks, a *d by dint of care in matters of diet, he 

 TV as in a few weeks able to return to his duty. 

 Not however, without bearing about him the 

 marks of the disease, in several bunch-like gath- 

 erings of the muscles on his legs and thighs, known 

 among soamen as scurvy- marks. 



