of living, in addition to the insalubrity of the climate, have rendered
fatal to so many of my countrymen. At the same time, I am not
insensible to the fact, that all Europeans are more or less susceptible
of those disorders which are prevalent within the Tropics; especially
on the western coast of Africa, in Batavia, Trincomalee, and different
parts of the West Indies; but it is equally certain that fear is a
great predisposing cause of disease, and that the despondency to which
most persons give way while they are under the influence of its
effects, increases the mortality to a considerable extent. It has been
generally observed, that those persons who happen to be so actively
engaged in any engrossing pursuit, as to have no leisure for the
imagination to work upon their fears, are less liable to the fever,
and, if attacked, are better able to encounter its virulence, than the
timid and cautious. In the event of an attack, if the patient keeps up
his spirits, and prevents desponding thoughts from occupying his mind,
there is every reason to hope for a favourable result--

The sons of hope are Heaven's peculiar care,
Whilst life remains 'tis impious to despair.

There are, of course, some constitutions more susceptible of the
disease than others; and it may also be observed, that young people are
more exposed to danger, than those who have passed the meridian of
life.

We left Woolwich on the following day, July the 2nd, for Northfleet,
where we remained a week, for the purpose of making observations,
regulating the chronometers, &c. We also took in our guns, 26 in
number, of the following calibre--18 32-pound carronades, 6 18-pound
ditto, and 2 long 9-pounders, with a full proportion of shot. This