MALIGNANT FEVER. 53 



" We were assembled on the deck," says our elo- 

 quent author, " absorbed in melancholy reflections. 

 It was no longer doubtful that the fever which pre- 

 vailed on board had of late assumed a fatal character. 

 Our eyes were fixed on a mountainous and desert 

 coast, on which the moon shone at intervals through 

 the clouds. The sea, gently agitated, glowed with 

 a feeble phosphoric light. No sound came on the 

 ear save the monotonous cry of some large seabirds, 

 that seemed to be seeking the shore. A deep calm 

 reigned in these solitary places ; but this calm of ex- 

 ternal nature accorded ill with the painful feelings 

 which agitated us. About eight the death-bell was 

 slowly tolled. At this doleful signal the sailors 

 ceased from their work, and threw themselves on 

 their knees to offer up a short prayer ; an affecting 

 ceremony, which, while it recalls the times when 

 the primitive Christians considered themselves as 

 members of the same family, seems to unite men by 

 the feeling of a common evil. In the course of the 

 night the body of the Asturian was, brought upon 

 deck, and the priest prevailed upon them not to 

 throw it into the sea till after sunrise, in order that 

 he might render to it the last rites, in conformity to 

 the practice of the Romish church. There was not 

 an individual on board who did not feel for the fate 

 of this young man, whom we had seen a few days 

 before full of cheerfulness and health." 



The passengers who had not been affected by the 

 disease resolved to leave the ship at the first place 

 where she should touch, and there wait the arrival 

 of another packet to convey them to Cuba and 

 Mexico. Our travellers also thought it prudent to 

 land at Cumana, more especially as they wished not 

 to visit New Spain until they had remained for some 

 time on the coasts of Venezuela and Paria, and ex- 

 amined the beautiful plants of which Bosc and Bre- 

 demeyer collected specimens on their voyage to 

 Terra Firma, and which Humboldt had seen in the. 

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