From The Middle Of November Till The Middle Of March, We Were Dwelling
Among Ice Above Two Fathoms In Thickness, And The Snow Lay Above Four
Feet Thick On Our Decks; And So Great Was The Frost That All Our Liquors
Were Frozen.
Even the inside of our ships below hatches was covered with
ice above the thickness of a hand-breadth.
In that period twenty-five of
our best men died, and all the rest were so exceedingly ill, three or
four only excepted, that we had not the smallest hopes of their
recovery. At this time it pleased God to cast an eye of pity upon our
forlorn state, and to send us knowledge of a remedy which restored us to
health in a most wonderful manner. Our captain happened one day to walk
out upon the ice beyond the fort, when he met a company of Indians
coming from Stadacona, among whom was Domagaia, who only ten or twelve
days before had his knees swollen like the head of a child two years
old, his sinews all shrunk, his teeth spoiled, his gums all rotten and
stinking, and in short in a very advanced stage of this cruel disease.
Seeing him now well and sound, our captain was much rejoiced, being in
hopes to learn by what means he had healed himself, so that he might in
the same manner cure our sick men. Domagaia informed him, that he had
taken the juice of the leaves of a certain tree, which was a sovereign
remedy against that disease.
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