Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/236

226 thirſt, they are unable to digeſt their food, which is very dry, and they ſoon fall ſick and die. Some of them are found thus every morning, and are thrown into the ſea; whilſt thoſe which are killed for the table are ſcarcely fit to be eaten. To remedy this inconvenience, it will be neceſſary to divide their troughs into ſmall compartments, in ſuch a manner that each of them may be capable of containing water; but this is ſeldom or never done. On this account, ſheep and hogs are to be conſidered as the beſt freſh proviſion that one can have at ea; mutton there being in general very good, and pork excellent. It may happen that ſome of the proviſions and ſtores which I have recommended may become almoſt uſeleſs, by the care which the captain has taken to lay in a proper ſtock; but in ſuch a caſe you may diſpoſe of it to relieve the poor paſſengers, who, paying leſs for their paſſage, are ſtowed among the common ſailors, and have no right to the captain's proviſions, except ſuch part of them as is uſed for feeding the crew. Theſe paſſengers are ſometimes ſick, melancholy, and dejected; and there are often women and children among them, neither of whom have any opportunity of procuring thoſe things which I have mentioned, and of which, perhaps, they have the greateſt need. By diſtributing amongſt them a part of your ſuperfluity, you may be of the greateſt aſſiſtance to them. You may reſtore their health, ſave their lives, and in ſhort render them happy; which always affords the livelieſt ſenſation to a feeling mind.

The moſt diſagreeable thing at ſea is the cookery; for there is not, properly ſpeaking, any profeſſed cook on board. The worſt ſailor is generally choſen for that purpoſe, who for the moſt part is equally dirty. Hence comes the proverb