MALIGNANT FEVER. 61 
marks of great sensibility, and had left his native 
land against his inclination, with the view of earn- 
ing an independence and assisting his reluctant mo- 
ther, under the protection of a rich relation, who re- 
sided in the island of Cuba. From the commence- 
ment of his illness he had fallen into a lethargic 
state, interrupted by accessions of delirium, and on 
the third day expired. Another Asturian, who was 
still younger, did not leave the bed of his dying 
friend fora moment, and yet escaped the disease. 
He had intended to accompany his countryman to 
Cuba, to be introduced by him to the house of his 
relative, on whom ail their hopes rested ; and it was 
distressing to see his deep sorrow, and to hear him 
curse the fatal counsels which had thrown him into 
a foreign climate, where he found himself alone and 
destitute. 
“We were assembled on the deck,” says cur elo- 
quent author, “absorbed in melancholy reflections. 
It was no longer doubtful that the fever which pre- 
vailed on board had of late assumed a fatal charac- 
ter. Our eyes were fixed on a mountainous and 
desert coast, on which the moon shone at intervals 
through the clouds. The sea, gently agitated, glowed 
with a feeble phosphoric light. No sound came on 
the ear save the monotonous cry of some large sea- 
birds that seemed to be seeking the shore. A deep 
calm reigned in these solitary places ; but this calm 
of external! nature accorded ill with the painful feel- 
ings which agitated us. About eight the death-bell 
was slowly toiled. At this doleful signal the sailors 
ceased from their work, and threw themselves on 
their knees to offer up a short prayer ; an affecting 
ceremony, which, while it recalls the times when the 
primitive Christians considered themselves as mem- 
