290 



But, among all our inconveniences, that which 

 is the most intolerable undoubtedly arises from 

 the sick apothecary. It seems that his complaint 

 is the consequence of dram-drinking, which has 

 affected his liver. Since his coming on board, he 

 has continued to indulge his taste ; and growing 

 worse (as might be expected), he has now thought 

 proper to put himself in a state of salivation: the 

 consequence is, that what with the mercury and 

 what with the man, aided by the concomitant 

 effluvia of our cargo of sugar, rum, and coffee, for 

 a combination of villanous smells, FalstafPs buck- 

 basket was nothing to the cabin of the Sir Godfrey 

 Webster. I could almost fancy myself Slawken- 

 bergius's Don Diego just returned from the Pro- 

 montory of Noses, and that I had exchanged my 

 snub for a proboscis; so much do all my other 

 senses appear to be absorbed in that of smelling, 

 and so completely do I seem to myself to be nose 

 all over. As to the poor apothecary, his mercury 

 annoys us without any signs as yet of its benefiting 

 himself. He grows worse daily, and I greatly 

 doubt his ever reaching England. 



April 19. (Sunday.) 

 I have not been able to ascertain exactly the 

 negro notions concerning the Duppy ; indeed, I 

 believe that his character and qualities vary in 

 different parts of the country. At first, I thought 

 that the term Duppy meant neither more nor less 



