374 BATAVIA CHAP. XVI 
morning he was something better, and from that time re- 
covered, though by extremely slow degrees, till his second 
attack. I myself, either by the influence of the bark of 
which I had all along taken quantities, or by the anxiety I 
suffered on Dr. Solander’s account, missed my fever, nor 
did it return for several days, until he became better. 
14th. We had the agreeable news of the repairs of the 
ship being completely finished, and that she had returned 
to Cooper’s Island, where she proved to be no longer leaky. 
When examined she had proved much worse than anybody 
expected; her main plank being in many places so cut by 
the rocks that not more than one-eighth of an inch in 
thickness remained; and here the worm had got in and 
made terrible havoc. Her false keel was entirely gone, and 
her main keel much wounded. The damages were now, 
however, entirely repaired, and very well too in the opinion 
of everybody who saw the Dutch artificers do their work. 
Dr. Solander grew better, though by very slow degrees. 
I soon had a return of my ague, which now became quotidian ; 
the captain also was taken ill on board, and of course we 
sent his servant to him. Soon after both Mr. Sporing and 
our seaman were seized with intermittents, so that we were 
again reduced to the melancholy necessity of depending 
entirely upon the Malays for nursing us, all of whom were 
often sick together. 
24th. We had for some nights now had the wind on the 
western board, generally attended with some rain, thunder 
and lightning; this night it blew strong at S.W. and rained 
harder than ever I saw it before for three or four hours. 
Our house rained in every part, and through the lower part 
of it ran a stream almost capable of turning a mill. In the 
morning I went to Batavia, where the quantities of bedding 
that I everywhere saw hung up to dry, made a very 
uncommon sight, for I was told almost every house in 
the town and neighbourhood suffered more or less. This 
was certainly the shifting of the monsoon; for the winds, 
which had before been constantly to the eastward, remained 
constantly on the western board. The people here, however, 
