A DEATH-BED SCENE. 



55 



mosquito ; 01* the silent but multiplied assaults of 

 the sand-flies, which came against the face, as I 

 heard a miserable wight exclaim one evening, like 

 lumdfuls of sand. Mosquito curtains were not a 

 sufficient defence against these invisible foes ; and 

 there was nothing for it, therefore, but to submit. 

 It is perhaps worthy of remark, that those persons 

 invariably suffered most who were least temperate 

 in their diet ; and that the water-drinkers, that 

 rare species, were especially exempted from the 

 feverish discipline of these attacks. It was per- 

 fectly out of the question to try to get any sleep 

 before the land wind set in ; but this refreshing 

 breeze often deceived us, and, at best, seldom came 

 before midnight ; and then having passed over 

 the hot plain, it reached us loaded with noxious 

 and offensive vapours from the marsh. But this evil 

 was considered as trifling, since it served to disperse 

 the sandflies and mosquitoes, and gradually acquired 

 a degree of coolness, which allowed us to drop 

 asleep towards morning — worn out with heat, vexa- 

 tion, and impotent rage against our tormentors. 



Some days after I came to San Bias, the chief 

 secretary of the government called, to request 

 that the surgeon of the Conway might be allowed 

 to visit his sick daughter, a little girl of three 

 years of age. I sent to the ship for the doctor, 

 and accompanied him to the house, where we found 

 the child not so ill as the father's fears had ima- 

 gined. Mr. Birnie thought that with proper care 

 she might recover ; and being obliged to go on 

 board himself, he sent medicines on shore, which 

 I carried to the child. I was in the first instance 

 prompted by the desire of being civil to a person 

 who had shown great attention to the officers dur- 

 ing my absence at Tepic ; and I was glad also to 

 have an opportunity of seeing the interior of a New 

 Galician family. But I soon acquired a far deeper 

 interest in the case, by the increasing illness of 

 our little patient, one of the prettiest and most en- 

 gaging children I ever saw. The doctor, at my 

 request, visited her as often as he could come on 

 shore ; but as he was in close attendance upon 

 several yellow-fever patients, not only in the Con- 

 way, but in the merchant-ships in the anchorage, 

 the task of watching the child's illness fell princi- 

 pally upon me. The poor parents would not be- 

 lieve, notwithstanding my reiterated assurances, 

 that I knew nothing of medicine : but it was too 

 late to draw back at this stage of the case, since it 

 was through me alone that any report could be 

 communicated to the medical gentlemen on board. 

 Yet I saw with much regret that the whole family 

 were becoming more and more dependent upon 

 me. They sent for me at all hours of the day and 

 night, whenever there was the least change ; and 

 although they must have seen that I could do them 

 no good, they still wished to be encouraged to hope 

 the best. In so small a town, and where there 

 was no physician within twenty miles, every eye 

 was turned upon us, which made the case a still 

 more anxious one. If the child recovered, indeed, 

 we should have been certain of the respect and the 

 esteem of the society: but on the other hand, if she 

 died, as we began to fear she soon must, the effect 

 of our interference was much to be dreaded on the 

 minds of people habitually distrustful of strangers. 

 There was clearly nothing for it now, however, 

 but to go through with the matter ; although it 

 was too obvious that in spite of our care, the child 



was daily getting worse. As all the old women in the 

 town had given the case up as hopeless — and they 

 were the only pretenders to medical knowledge in 

 the neighbourhood — our endeavours were watched 

 with uncommon anxiety, and became the universal 

 topic of conversation, even as far as Tepic. 



Late one night I was called out of bed by a 

 breathless messenger, who came to say the child 

 was much worse ; and that I must come down to 

 the secretary's house immediately. I found the 

 infant in its mother's arms, with its eyes closed, 

 and the sickly hue of its skin changed to a pure 

 marble whiteness : indeed it looked more like a 

 statue than a living being, and was evidently dying. 

 The poor father, who still fondly rested his hopes 

 on my opinion, accompanied me to the room, and 

 watched my looks with the most melancholy 

 anxiety. On catching from the expression of my 

 countenance, when I beheld the infant, what was 

 the nature of my thoughts, he took a last miserable 

 look at his child, and rushed into the streets. I 

 saw him no more till long after all was over, and 

 I had returned to my house ; when I observed 

 him at a distance, bare-headed, and running, in a 

 distracted manner, away from that part of the town 

 in which his house lay. Meanwhile the mother, more 

 true to her duties, sat upon the bed, and from time 

 to time pressed the infant's cheeks, and tried to 

 raise its eyelids, earnestly supplicating it to speak 

 once more. — " Dolores ! — my little Dolores, don't 

 you know your own mother ? " — " Dolores ! — Dolor- 

 cita ! — no conoces a tu madre ? " are words I never 

 shall forget. I sat down by her, and she made 

 me touch its cold cheek — accustomed, poor woman, 

 to derive consolation from the encouragement I 

 had formerly given to her hopes — I did as she 

 desired, but the child was gone. 



The funeral, as is usual in Catholic countries, 

 when a child under seven years of age dies, was a 

 sort of merry-making ; it being considered a source 

 of rejoicing that an innocent soul has been added 

 to the number of angels. The effect, however, T 

 must say was very distressing. The respect I felt 

 for the family, and the curiosity I had to see the 

 ceremony, were barely sufficient motives to retain 

 me in the procession ; where fiddles, drums, and fifes, 

 played merry tunes round the bier; while the priests 

 chanted hymns of rejoicing at the accession which 

 had been made to the host of little angels. 



The effect of our failure on the minds of the 

 people was the very reverse of what we had anti- 

 cipated ; for both the surgeon and myself were 

 ever afterwards treated by all classes of the society 

 with a more marked, respectful, and even cordial 

 attention than before : and whenever the circum- 

 stance was spoken of, the exertions we had made, 

 though unsuccessful, were everywhere duly felt 

 and acknowledged. The poor father could set no 

 limits to his gratitude ; and at last we were obliged 

 to be careful, when in his presence, how we ex- 

 pressed a wish for anything ; as he never failed, 

 upon discovering what was wanted, to send at any 

 cost, and to any distance, to fetch it for us. When 

 I was coming away, some weeks afterwards, he 

 insisted upon my accepting the most valuable 

 curiosity he possessed, and which he had cherished 

 with care for fifteen years— a beautiful bird of the 

 country, celebrated all over the province of New 

 Galicia, and considered as the finest specimen of 

 its kind ever seen. 



