At Daybreak There Was A Fair Breeze From The
South, But It Lasted Only An Hour.
All the rest of the day we had
nothing but calms, light winds ahead, and squalls, and made very
little progress.
On the 25th we drifted out to the middle of the channel, but made
no progress onward. In the afternoon we sailed and rowed to the
south end of Kaiķa, and by midnight reached the village. I
determined to stay here a few days to rest and recruit, and in
hopes of getting better weather. I bought some onions and other
vegetables, and plenty of eggs, and my men baked fresh sago
cakes. I went daily to my old hunting-ground in search of
insects, but with very poor success. It was now wet, squally
weather, and there appeared a stagnation of insect life. We
Staved five days, during which time twelve persons died in the
village, mostly from simple intermittent fever, of the treatment
of which the natives are quite ignorant. During the whole of this
voyage I had suffered greatly from sunburnt lips, owing to having
exposed myself on deck all day to loon after our safety among the
shoals and reefs near Waigiou. The salt in the air so affected
them that they would not heal, but became excessively painful,
and bled at the slightest touch, and for a long time it was with
great difficulty I could eat at all, being obliged to open my
mouth very wide, and put in each mouthful with the greatest
caution.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 341 of 412
Words from 91809 to 92067
of 111511
