308 
SURVEY OF THE JNTERTROPICAL 
1819. people caught a porpoise, which helped to di- 
Sept. 30. minish the bad effect of salt provisions. 
We were now very weak-handed; three men, 
besides Mr. Bed well who was still an invalid, 
being ill, considerably reduced our strength ; in- 
somuch that being underweigh night and day, 
with only one spare man on the watch to re- 
lieve the mast-head look-out, the lead, and the 
helm, there was great reason to fear the fatigue 
would very much increase the number of com- 
plaints. Since leaving Port Jackson we had 
never been free from sickness, but it was con- 
fined principally to two or three individuals, wdio 
were not able to endure the very great heat. 
Upon the whole we thought ourselves very fortu- 
nate that, considering the frequency of illness on 
board, and the violence of the diseases by which 
some of our people had been attacked, particu- 
larly in the cases of Mr. Bedwell and Mr. Cun- 
ningham, we had only lost one man ; and this 
from a complaint which even medical assistance 
might not, perhaps, have cured ; and by an acci- 
dent which could not have been prevented, for 
our people were at the moment so busily em- 
ployed in working the vessel through a dangerous 
navigation that the unfortunate man’s situation 
was not known until the vital spark was nearly 
