Numbers of
these were so very helpless that we were obliged to carry them from the
boats to the hospital upon our shoulders, in which humane employment (as
before at Juan Fernandez) the Commodore himself and every one of his
officers were engaged without distinction; and notwithstanding the great
debility of the greatest part of our sick, it is almost incredible how
soon they began to feel the salutary influence of the land. For though we
buried twenty-one men on this and the preceding day, yet we did not lose
above ten men more during our whole two months' stay here; and in general
our diseased received so much benefit from the fruits of the island,
particularly the fruits of the acid kind, that in a week's time there
were but few who were not so far recovered as to be able to move about
without help; and on the 12th of September all those who were so far
relieved as to be capable of doing duty were sent on board the ship. And
then the Commodore, who was himself ill of the scurvy, had a tent erected
for him on shore, where he went with the view of staying a few days for
the recovery of his health, being convinced, by the general experience of
his people, that no other method but living on the land was to be trusted
to for the removal of this dreadful malady. As the crew on board were now
reinforced by the recovered hands returned from the island, we began to
send our casks on shore to be fitted up, which till now could not be
done, for the coopers were not well enough to work.
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