.EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 



met with great civilities, and the whole colony feemed 

 anxious to teftify their refpe6l, by vying with eacli 

 other in a conftant round of feftivity. Balls, concert?;, 

 card-affemblies, and every fpecies of amufement in their 

 power, were conftantly contrived for our entertain- 

 ment. The fpirit of conviviality next reached on board 

 the men-of-war, where we entertained the ladies whh 

 cold fuppers and dancing upon the quarter-deck, under 

 an awning, till fix in the morning, generally concluding 

 the frolic by a cavalcade, or an airing in their carriages. 

 This conftant routine of diffipation, which was rendered 

 flill more pernicious by the enervating effects of an in- 

 tenfely hot climate, where one is in a perpetual Hate 

 of perfpiration, already threatened to become fata/ to 

 two or three of our officers. Warned by their example, 

 1 retired from all public companies, fenfible that by 

 fuch means I could alone preferve my health, in a coun- 

 try which has fuch a tendency to debilitate the human 

 frame, that an European, however cautious to avoid 

 exceffes, has always reafon to apprehend its dreadful 

 effects. 



Diffipation and luxury appear to he congenial to the 

 inhabitants of this climate, and great numbers murt an- 

 nually fall victims to their very deftrudtive influence. 

 Their fatal confequences are indeed too vifible in the 

 men, who have indulged themfelves in intemperance 

 and other fenfual gratifications, and who appear withered 

 and enervated in the extreme; nor do the. generality of 



E 2 the. 



