clxxiv 
APPENDIX. 
able comfort was only to be obtained by frequent ablutions, but the time and 
the fuel necessary to procure enough water for this and other purposes, cre- 
ated a tendency to neglect the duties of cleanliness, an object that required 
the constant superintendence of the officers to effect. The greatest difficulty, 
however, in this respect, arose from the obstacles which opposed the drying 
of the clothes when washed ; for many months there was no other mode of 
effecting this than by suspending them in the neighbourhood of the stoves 
and flues, and it was fortunate if by these means a clean shirt was procured 
once a week. 
Various were the modes of occupation, in exercises and recreations, put in 
practice to counteract a disposition to idleness, the prolific source of discon- 
tent and its consequences. The dull monotony of the scene was favourable 
to habits of sloth, particularly among seamen whose mental resources are too 
feeble, in general, to enable them eflectually to withstand the temptation. 
As the means employed to obviate these several evils constitute a part of the 
general system of economy and discipline practised by Captain Parry during 
the voyage, it is not necessary for me to detail them ; the best commentary 
on the subject is the comparative freedom from disease that prevailed 
throughout. 
Nearly four months had elapsed when the first symptoms of scurvy were 
observed ; this was early in the month of January, one of the severest in the 
year. The patient was Gunner of the Hecla, a spare man of temperate habits, 
but with a constitution somewhat worn by servitude in warm climates. This 
morbid predisposition was increased by circumstances connected with the 
locality of his cabin, which was situated in the vicinity of a large stove, from 
which emanated a degree of heat not sufficient to expel the moisture, but 
quite adequate to keep it in a most comfortless condition ; during the day 
the air was charged with vapour, which at night froze to every adjacent sub- 
stance. On examining his bed, one side was found to be literally drenched 
in water, and the other frozen to the bed-place. Under such circumstances 
it was not astonishing that scorbutic symptoms should have appeared. Their 
