Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/370

  SURV!..� O!  INTERTROPICAl'. slg. people caught a porpoise, Which helped to di- Se m. minish the bl effect of salt provisions. We were now very weak-handed; three men, besides Mr. Bedwell who was still an invalid, being ill, considerably reduced our strength; in- somuch that being underweigh night and clay, with only one spare ma 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 siess, but. it was con- fined principally.to two'or three individal, who 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

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