Essays on natural history, chiefly ornithology / By Charles Waterton ; With an autobiography of the author, and a view of Walton Hall.

  • Waterton, Charles, 1782-1865.
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on natural history, chiefly ornithology / By Charles Waterton ; With an autobiography of the author, and a view of Walton Hall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    *¢ Kl hombre pone, y Dios dispone.” Many a bright and glorious morning ends in a gloomy setting sun. There began to be reports spread up and down the city that the black vomit had made its appear- ance; and every succeeding day brought testimony that things were not as they ought to be. I my- self, in an alley near my uncle’s house, saw a mattress of most suspicious appearance hung out to dry. A Maltese captain, who had dined with us in good health at one o'clock, lay dead in his cabin before sunrise the next morning. <A few days after this, I was seized with vomiting and fever during the night. I had the most dreadful spasms, and it was supposed that I could not last out till noon the next day. However, strength of constitution got me through it. In three weeks more, multitudes were seen to leave the city, which shortly after was declared to be in a state of pestilence. Some affirmed that the disorder had come from the Levant; others said that it had been imported from the Havanna; but I think it probable that nobody could tell in what quarter it had originated. We had now all retired to the country house; my eldest uncle returning to Malaga from time to time, according as the pressure of business demanded his presence in the city. He left us one Sunday evening, and said he would be back again some time on Monday; but that was my poor uncle’s last day’s ride. On arriving at his house in Malaga, there was a messenger waiting to inform him that Father Bustamante had fallen sick, and wished to