Demarara, May 5.
The ship, which is to convey our surgical invalids, not having sailed, I
gladly embrace the opportunity of offering you a word of kind adieu,
before I take my departure. To-morrow I am to embark from this coast,
together with such of the gentlemen of the St. Domingo hospital staff,
as have been spared from the grave. The vessel, in which we have taken
our passage, goes only to Martinique; how, and at what time we may
proceed from thence to St. Domingo will, in all probability, depend upon
circumstances, not within my control: but, for many reasons, I shall be
anxious to reach the island, whither we are destined, hoping, there, to
hail my comrades; to meet large packets of long-expected letters from my
friends in England; to regain my books and baggage; and to become
settled in a regular routine of professional duty. When you may hear of
me again, or from whence, is among the uncertainties with which I am
surrounded; but I shall continue to mark occurrences in the usual
manner, and if your correspondent shall not have been too faithfully
observant of your dictates, you may perhaps be troubled as heretofore:
but I am fearful lest I should draw more “_Notes_” than you may be
willing “_to accept_.”
Adieu! adieu!