f suffocating heat, attended by an insufferable languor, and a
total loss of appetite. But though our situation was for a time thus uneasy
and alarming, we had at last the singular satisfaction of escaping from
these fatal seas, without the loss of a single life; A circumstance which
was probably owing in part to the vigorous health of the crews, when we
first arrived here, as well as to the strict attention, now become habitual
in our men, to the salutary regulations introduced amongst us by Captain
Cook.

On our leaving Prince's Island, and during the whole time of our run from
thence to the Cape of Good Hope, the crew of the Resolution was in a much
more sickly state than that of the Discovery; for though many of us
continued for some time complaining of the effects of the noxious climate
we had left, yet happily we all recovered from them. Of the two who had
been ill of fevers, one, after being seized with violent convulsions, on
the 12th of February, which made us despair of his life, was relieved by
the application of blisters, and was soon after out of danger. The other
recovered, but more slowly. On board the Resolution, besides the obstinate
coughs and fevers under which they very generally laboured, a great many
were afflicted with fluxes, the number of whom, contrary to our
expectations, continued increasmg till our arrival at the Cape.

Captain Gore attributed this difference in part, and probably with some
reason, to the Discovery having her fire-place between decks; the heat and
smoke of which, he conceived, might help to mitigate the bad effects of the
damp night air. But I am rather inclined to believe, that we escaped the
flux by the precautions that were taken to prevent our catching it from
others. For if some kinds of fluxes be, as I apprehend there is no doubt
they are, contagious, it is not improbable, that the Resolution caught this
disorder from the Dutch ships at Cracatoa. In order to avoid this danger,
when Mr Williamson was sent to the Indiaman in the entrance of the Strait
of Sunda, he had the strictest orders not to suffer any of our people, on
any account whatever, to go on board; and whenever we had afterward
occasion to have any communication with the Resolution, the same caution
was constantly observed.

We were no sooner clear of Prince's Island, than we had a gentle breeze
from the W.N.W.; but this did not last long; for the following day the wind
became again variable, and continued