276 



ST. THOMASES. 



of Providence^ after ten days of great prostration 

 of strength^ I recovered sufficiently to leave the 

 ship and hire a lodging looking into the artillery 

 barracks. 



The Gannet has sailed to Carthagena^ and I 

 am waiting now for a passage in the Dee steamer 

 to the island of St. Thomas, from whence the 

 packet sails every fortnight to Falmouth. In 

 the mean time my convalescence is making 

 some progress; the solitude, however, of my 

 abode is painfully interrupted. Frequent 

 funerals with solemn steps and slow, march 

 mournfully by conveying the soldier to an un- 

 honoured grave. This prospect is certainly not 

 calculated to engender buoyant hopes, but I 

 am luckily never ^^over exquisite to cast the 

 fashion of uncertain evils/^ finding consola- 

 tion in Sancho Panza's proverb — La buena 

 esperanza vale mas que ruin posesion.^^ — 

 Good hope is worth more than bad pos- 

 session.^^ 



St. Thomas, July 16th. — A saiHng vessel is 

 often six weeks in beating to windward of St. 

 Domingo from Port Royal. In the Dee 



