EFFECTS OF THE LAND WIND. 
207 
back and sent a boat on shore to obtain some dam- 
mar, a sort of resin used in this country for the pur- 
pose of covering the bottoms of boats. Having pro- 
cured the necessary supply, we anchored in a small 
creek, where the seams were well covered with the 
dammar, and we were soon in a condition to put 
to sea. There was little to interest us on our course. 
Our chief amusement was fishing; and one morn- 
ing we caught a small shark nine feet long, in the 
stomach of which, when it was cut open, we found 
a large piece of a coir cable, which had actually begun 
to digest. The fish gave us a good deal of trouble, as 
our Lascars were not very skilful in securing it. Its 
plunges upon the deck were not a little dangerous 
until it received a gash in the tail from a hatchet, 
which effectually prevented mischief. Our monotonous 
voyage at length terminated, and we cast anchor in 
Bombay harbour, by the side of an Indiaman. 
The gentle spring that but salutes us here, 
Inhabits there, and courts them all the year. 
Happening to know one of the officers, I went on 
board the next day, and saw my young friend in 
a sad condition. A few nights previously, it being 
extremely hot, he had slept with the port open, 
which admitted a draught through his cabin. While 
he slept, the insidious land wind blew upon him, 
and he awoke with his lower extremities paralyzed. 
When I saw him, he could move his hands only; and 
apprehensions were entertained by the surgeon of the 
ship that he would never recover the use of his limbs. 
These apprehensions were sadly verified in the issue. 
