104 MEMOIR OF DR WRIGHT. 



time they were peculiarly fatal. The ship or jail fe- 

 ver had been overcome ; and Dr Wright observes 

 that he had never seen the yellow fever, and hopes 

 that he never should. After the removal of the troops 

 from Barbadoes, Dr Wright's professional duties be- 

 came gradually less fatiguing, as the inmates of the 

 various hospitals entrusted to his charge were diminish- 

 ed in number. In a few weeks he was enabled to re- 

 port, that the whole of the sick in Barbadoes, connect- 

 ed with the armament, were in a state of convales- 

 cence. The leisure which he thus acquired, was de- 

 voted, with his wonted ardour, to the pursuits of na- 

 tural history ; and a large collection of the produc- 

 tions of the Windward Islands was the result. 



In the autumn, however, of 1796 these interesting 

 avocations were interrupted. Sir Ralph Abercrom- 

 bie had resolved to go home for reinforcements, and, 

 before his departure, he again fixed the head quarters, 

 as well as the general hospital, at Barbadoes ; a 

 change which necessarily brought with it a great ac- 

 cession of fatiguing duty to Dr Wright. He de- 

 scribes Barbadoes as the hottest of the West India 

 islands he had ever visited, but observes that all its 

 disadvantages are counterbalanced by its superior dry- 

 ness and salubrity. The troops, however, had been so 

 greatly reduced in number and efficiency, by disease 

 during their absence from the island, that a descent of 

 the enemy was regarded with the most serious alarm. 

 The shores were in many places open to invasion, and 

 the country, in general, was incapable, from natural 

 causes, of being materially strengthened, The mi- 



