239 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap.XIY—B.P. 
so far as lie might want to draw upon them in his 
pursuit of such happiness as a “ technical education” 
had taught him to expect from keeping a man-of-war 
in good order. 
“Now, doctor, I am sure, after listening to the 
first lieutenant, you cannot but he as satisfied as 
myself that the sanitary condition of the ship will 
he well looked after; so just tell me what you think 
of Mosquito and the Mosquitoes, so far as you have 
been able to judge by the short inspection you have 
had. Are we going to he fever-stricken, and a sort 
of floating hospital, as the other ships on this station 
have been ?” 
“ No, indeed,” replied the doctor. “ I hope to have 
a smaller sick-list here than we ever had in the W est 
Indies. I have been much struck with the appear¬ 
ance of the residents; most of them have been more 
than ten years in the country; in fact, the English 
consul is the only sickly-looking person in the place. 
Yellow fever is unknown, and if you, Sir, can only 
give the ship’s company sufficient employment to keep 
‘the devil out of their minds,’ I feel confident the 
‘ Gorgon’ will be as healthy a ship as ever visited the 
Coast. 
“I am told that not even during the time when the 
inhabitants, men, women, and children, were driven to 
the woods, to escape the shot and shell fired into the 
town by the United States’ corvette ‘ Cyane,’ was their 
health impaired, although the rainy reason had regu¬ 
larly set in, and there was no shelter for the suffering 
people.” 
