the two
last days made the review extremely simple. I had lost everything. A
small venture of merchandise, in which I invested the savings of
my previous voyages, had been intrusted to the captain for sale at
Manilla. These goods were destroyed, together with all I possessed,
at Cavite. There remained to me but the clothes I had on--a few old
things I could wear only on board ship--and thirty-two dollars. I
was but a little richer than Bias. Unfortunately I recollected
that an English captain--whose ship I had seen in the roads--owed me
something like a hundred dollars. In my present circumstances this sum
appeared a fortune. The captain in question, from fear of the Indians,
had dropped down as far as Maribele, at the entrance of the bay, ten
leagues from Cavite. To obtain payment it was necessary I should go on
board his vessel. I borrowed a boat, and the services of four sailors,
from Captain Perroux, and departed. I reached the ship at dusk. The
unprincipled captain, who knew himself to be in deep water and safe
from pursuit, replied that he did not understand what I was saying
to him. I insisted upon being paid, and he laughed in my face. I was
treated as a cheat. He threatened to have me thrown into the sea;
in short, after a useless discussion, and at the moment when the
captain called five or six of his sailors to execute his threat,
I retreated to my boat. The night was dark, and as a violent and
contrary wind had sprung up, it was impossible to regain the ship,
so we passed the night floating upon the waves, ignorant as to the
direction we were going. In the morning I discovered our efforts had
been thrown away; Cavite was far behind us. The wind becoming calmer,
we again commenced rowing, and two hours after noon reached the ship.

Meanwhile tranquillity was restored at Cavite and Manilla. The
Spanish authorities took measures to prevent a recurrence of the
frightful scenes I have detailed, and the priests of Cavite launched a
public excommunication against all those who had attempted my life. I
attributed this solicitude to the character of my profession, being in
fact the only AEsculapius in the place. When I left the town the sick
were obliged to content themselves with the hazardous presumptions of
Indian sorcerers. One morning, I had almost decided upon returning to
land, when an Indian, in a smartly decorated pirogue, came alongside
the Cultivateur. I had met this man in some of my shooting excursions,