122 OBSERVATIONS ON 



In those accursed swamps, one is oppressed, not 

 only bodily, but mentally, with an indescribable 

 feeling of heaviness, languor, nausea, and dis- 

 gust, which requires a considerable effort to 

 shake off. Another cause of sickness was the 

 want of excitement. We had been led to expect 

 great opposition on our passage to Eboe, and the 

 minds of the crew, in expectation of it, had been 

 raised to dare anything, and to overcome every 

 obstacle to our progress: with the exception of 

 one slight skirmish, we met with none, and in- 

 stead of the excitement produced by a sense of 

 personal danger, which would in a great measure 

 have prevented the men from thinking of the un- 

 healthiness of the climate, they had before them, 

 every day, a tedious, uninteresting, and pro- 

 tracted voyage through a flat and marshy 

 country. It may be strange that the absence of 

 danger should be assigned as a predisposing 

 cause of sickness ; but I feel confident that expe- 

 rience will bear me out in the assertion. 



Thirdly. — To any persons under similar cir- 

 cumstances, I would recommend to keep up the 

 excitement of the crew in every possible way — 

 by giving them, when in the swampy country, 

 triple the usual allowance of spirits ; to feed 



