52 



MALIGNANT FEVER. 



Heaving the lead, they found from 230 to 275 feet, 

 with a bottom of very fine green clay, — a depth 

 much less than, according to Dampiers rule, might 

 have been expected in the vicinity of a shore formed 

 of very elevated and perpendicular mountains. 



The disease which had broken out on board the 

 Pizarro made rapid progress from the time they ap- 

 proached the coast. The thermometer kept steady 

 at night between 71*6° and 73'4°, and during the day 

 rose to between 75'2° and 80'6°. The determination 

 to the head, the extreme dryness of the skin, the 

 prostration of strength, and all the other symptoms 

 became more alarming ; but it was hoped that the 

 sick would recover as soon as they were landed on 

 the island of St. Margaret, or at the port of Cumana, 

 both celebrated for their great salubrity. This hope, 

 however, was not entirely realized, for one of the 

 passengers fell a victim to the distemper. He was 

 an Asturian, nineteen years of age, the only son of 

 a poor widow. Various circumstances combined to 

 render the death of this young man affecting. He 

 was of an exceedingly gentle disposition, bore the 

 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 

 mother, under the protection of a rich relation, who 

 resided 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 for a 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 all 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. 



