Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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He Had Embarked
Against His Own Inclination; And His Mother, Whom He Had Hoped To
Assist By The Produce Of
His efforts, had made a sacrifice of her
affection in the hope of securing the fortune of her son, by
Sending him to the colonies to a rich relation, who resided at the
island of Cuba. The unfortunate young man expired on the third day
of his illness, having fallen from the beginning into a lethargic
state interrupted only by fits of delirium. The yellow fever, or
black vomit, at Vera Cruz, scarcely carries off the sick with so
alarming a rapidity. Another Asturian, still younger, did not leave
for one moment the bed of his dying friend; and, what is very
remarkable, did not contract the disorder.
We were assembled on the deck, absorbed in melancholy reflections.
It was no longer doubtful, that the fever which raged on board had
assumed within the last few days a fatal aspect. Our eyes were
fixed on a hilly and desert coast on which the moon, from time to
time, shed her light athwart the clouds. The sea, gently agitated,
emitted a feeble phosphoric light. Nothing was heard but the
monotonous cry of a few large sea-birds, flying towards the shore.
A profound calm reigned over these solitary regions, but this calm
of nature was in discordance with the painful feelings by which we
were oppressed. About eight o'clock the dead man's knell was slowly
tolled. At this lugubrious sound, the sailors suspended their
labours, and threw themselves on their knees to offer a momentary
prayer:
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