392 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



land, to be pitched over the side like a dead dog : and 

 I was resolved to prove the old proverb : " Where 

 there's a Mdll, there's a way,'' and to get well again. I 

 took a glass of excellent arrack, and had a quantity of 

 it rubbed on my chest and shoulders. I fell asleep in 

 a few minutes, and in the morning I felt lighter and 

 better. By the 1st August I was able to crawl about, 

 and decidedly improving. On the 3rd, we came in 

 sight of Cuba, and passed close enough to the shore to 

 make out the palm-trees and country houses. 



The sick sailors were still dangerously ill, and though 

 there was a medicine chest, yet there was no doctor on 

 board, nor any one who understood its contents ; so 

 there was little hope for the poor fellows. One died 

 that same evening, another on the 6th, another on the 

 7th. There were no stones or w^eights on board to sink 

 the corpses, and they swam about the ship, as if they 

 wished to be taken on board again, and not to be left 

 in this waste of waters. The moon was shining clear, 

 and we looked long in silence at the melancholy spec- 

 tacle, not knowing whose turn might come next. 



It was possible that we should be obliged to return 

 to an American port for men to navigate the ship, for 

 six seamen had deserted at New Orleans, and one had 

 died, and the captain had replaced them by two Ameri- 

 cans, one Frenchman, and one Italian, altogether too 

 few when we first started. However, soon after the 

 third corpse was thrown overboard, a fresh breeze 

 sparng up from the westward, and on the 9th we 

 entered the Atlantic. The patients improved, and by 

 the 11th all were well and fit for work. 



Leaving the Gulf stream as soon as possible, to avoid 



