SPANISH SEAMEN IN THE NEW WORLD 641 



bored through the water casks, letting the precious water run 

 out. 47 Often the seawater found its way into the provisions, 

 and further damaged the food. 



Under such conditions it was inevitable that disease, princi- 

 pally scurvy, should break out. Until almost the end of the 

 eighteenth century no long expedition was free from the ravages 

 of this disease. Scurvy and cold were the most powerful ob- 

 stacles to Spanish navigation of the Pacific. The death list was 

 large, chiefly among the crew, for the commanders were accus- 

 tomed to take somewhat better provisions for themselves. 

 Many of the diaries of the explorers tell of being forced to turn 

 back because not enough well persons were left aboard to navi- 

 gate the ship. Vizcaino, with his men dying of hunger, dared not 

 stop to receive food from Indians who offered it, as he did not 

 have men strong enough to raise the anchors. 48 



It was not generally known until Cook's voyage how to pre- 

 vent scurvy on a long voyage. 49 Venegas tells how the crew of 

 a Manila galleon were cured by eating "pitahayas, acid fruits, and 

 fresh meat". 50 Vizcaino records in his diary the efficacy of a 

 "small fruit like agaves, called juicolystlis". 51 Martinez knew 

 somewhat better how to combat the dread disease. His list of 

 remedies included "wild celery, greens, the soft tender shoots of 

 the nettle, and various other plants whose taste is similar to that 

 of the radish leaf in salad". 52 But none of them knew how to 

 provide for the time when the fresh provisions were exhausted, 

 so scurvy long remained tne chief hazard and cause of mortality 

 of Spanish seamen. 



"Ibid., 1.366, 367. 



4> Diary, 1602-1603. Translation in Bolton, op. cit., p. 98. 



49 "Lemon juice as a specific against scurvy was known more than two hundred 

 and fifty years ago, as is shown in The Surgeon's Mate or Military and Domestic 

 Medicine; by John Woodfall, Master in Surgery; London, 1636; and was first 

 introduced into nautical diet in 1795, through the efforts of Drs. Blair and Gilbert 

 Blane, Commissioners of the Board for sick and Wounded Seamen." Frank W. 

 Reilly, "American commerce and the service," in Annual Report of the Supervising 

 Surgeon of the Marine-Hospital Service of the United States, 1874, p. 128, note b. 



6 Vol. II. 124. 



61 Diary, 1602-1603. Translation in Bolton, op. cit., p. 99. 



52 P. 175. 



