140 
EUA’EEAL AT SEA. 
land them at the island of St. Margareta, or the port of 
Cum ana, places remarkable for their great salubrity. 
This hope was unfortunately not realised. The youngest 
of the passengers attacked with the malignant fever fell 
a victim to the disease. He was an Asturian, nineteen 
years of age, the only son of a poor widow. Several cir- 
cumstances rendered the death of this young man affecting. 
His countenance bore the expression of sensibility and great 
mildness of disposition. He had embarked against his own 
inclination ; and his mother, whom he had hoped to assist 
by the produce of his efforts, had made a sacrifice of her 
affection in the hope of securing the fortune of her son, 
by sending him to the colonies to a rich relation, who 
resided at the island of Cuba. The unfortunate young man 
expired on the third day of his illness, having fallen from 
the beginning into a lethargic state interrupted only by 
fits of delirium. The yellow fever, or black vomit, at Vera 
Cruz, scarcely carries off the sick with so alarming a ra- 
pidity. Another Asturian, still younger, did not leave for 
one moment the bed of his dying friend; and, what is 
very remarkable, did not contract the disorder. 
We were assembled on the deck, absorbed in melancholy 
reflections. It was no longer doubtful, that the fever which 
raged on board had assumed within the last few days a fatal 
aspect. Our eyes were fixed on a hilly and desert coast 
on which the moon, from time to time, shed her light 
athwart the clouds. The sea, gently agitated, emitted a 
feeble phosphoric light. Nothing was heard but the mo- 
notonous cry of a few large sea-birds, flying towards the 
shore. A profound calm reigned over these solitary re- 
gions, but this calm of nature was in discordance with 
the painful feelings by which we were oppressed. About 
eight o’clock the dead, man’s knell was slowly tolled. At 
this lugubrious sound, the sailors suspended their labours, 
and threw themselves on their knees to offer a momentary 
prayer: an affecting ceremony, which brought to our re- 
membrance those times when the primitive Christians all 
considered themselves as members of the same family. 
All were united in one common sorrow for a misfortune 
which was felt to be common to all. The corpse of the 
