Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/298

 fresh air and the light of day, admitting nothing but salt water and the light of the sea, the heat and perspiration rendering the cabin untenable. The situation of an invalid under such circumstances, who requires more free air than a man in health,and is unable to leave his cabin, or his cot, is most distressing, and can be conceived only by one who has witnessed it. It was once my misfortune to attend a brother officer in a violent fever so situated, and during a gale of wind, and he soon became delirious and died. I would strongly dissuade any invalid against engaging a cabin on the lower deck of any ship, not excepting the magnificent ships of Messrs. Green & Co., or Smith & Co. A cabin on the poop will be one-third more expense,but this must not be thought of when the recovery of health is concerned. At the same time, I consider a voyage to England in a poop cabin of one of the above companies' ships, with a good table and a pleasant party of passengers, more likely to restore a person to health than any other possible means he can have recourse to, in the same space of time. Having obtained leave to sea, the invalid will do well to be on board his ship the day before she drops down the river; he will thus have time to put everything in its proper place and lash it down. A small private store of jam, raspberry vinegar, arrow-root and tapioca, and a box of spices, if