BIOGRAPHY. 11 



much aloof, that they cannot be seen without the aid of a 

 telescope, but Waterton was fortunate enough to see the 

 whole colony on the move, they being forced to leave their 

 quarters by a change of wind. He counted between fifty 

 and sixty of them, some having young on their backs. 



After staying for more than a year in Malaga, and 

 having apparently in the meantime acquired the Spanish 

 language, of which he was totally ignorant when he en- 

 tered Cadiz, but in which he was afterwards a proficient, 

 he projected a visit to Malta, but was checked by a ter- 

 rible obstacle. This was the " black-vomit," which broke 

 out with irresistible force, accompanied with cholera and 

 yellow fever. 



The population died by thousands, and so many were 

 the victims of these diseases that graves could not be dug 

 fast enough to keep pace with the mortality. Large pits 

 were dug much like our plague-pits and as they could 

 not accommodate the coffins, the bodies of the dead were 

 flung promiscuously into the pits. An uncle of Waterton 

 died of the disease, his body was taken out of its coffin 

 and thrown into the pit, and just beneath him lay the 

 body of a Spanish marquis. No less than fourteen thou- 

 sand people died in Malaga, notwithstanding that fifty 

 thousand persons had fled from the city. 



Waterton did not escape scatheless. He was seized 

 with the black-vomit, but, although it was thought that 

 he could not live until the following day, his great strength 

 of constitution, aided by his simple mode of life, enabled 

 him to conquer in the struggle. As if to add to the terrors 

 of the time, earthquakes followed the plague, and every one 

 who possessed another home was anxious to leave a spot 

 which had been stricken with such plagues, and among 

 them was Waterton. But the authorities had mean- 

 while laid an embargo on the shipping, and it was next to 



