THE PELEW ISLANDS. 
355 
him as a common occurrence, in a country which was per- 
petually fpreading before him fo many ftibje£ts of furprize. 
Whenever he had opportunities of feeing gardens, he was 
an attentive obferver of the plants and fruit-trees, would alk 
many queftions about them, and fay, when he returned home, 
he would take feeds of fuch as would live and flourifh in 
Pelew; talked frequently of the things he fhou'ld then per- 
fuade the King to alter or adopt; and appeared in viewing 
moil objects to confider how far they might be rendered 
ufeful to his own country. 
He was now proceeding with hafty ftrides in gaining the 
Englijh language, and advancing fo rapidly with his pen, that 
he would probably in a fhort time have written a very fine 
hand, when he was overtaken by that very difeafe, which 
with fo much caution had been guarded againft, On the 16th 
of December he felt himfelf much indifpofed, and in a day or 
two after an eruption appeared all over him.—Captain Wil¬ 
son called to inform me of his uneafinefs, and was then 
going to Dr. Carmichael Smyth, to requeft he would fee 
him, apprehending that it might be the fmall-pox. 
Dr. Smyth, with whofe profefiional abilities are united 
every accomplifhment of the fcholar and the gentleman, and 
whofe friendfhip I feel a pride in acknowledging myfelf 
long pofleffed of, defired me to go with him to Rother t 
hithe. When he defcended from Lee Boo’s chamber 
(where he rather wifhed me not to go) he told the family 
Z z 2 that 
