Cape St. Nicholas Mole, August.
It were futile, as unnecessary, to attempt describing the sensation I
experienced on finding myself upon the island of St. Domingo. I had for
a long time looked to this colony as a kind of military home, where I
should meet my comrades, overtake my books and baggage, and receive a
packet of letters, which had been nearly two years accumulating, from
many valued friends whom I had left in England.
From the period of joining the expedition, I had been taught to regard
this island as my place of service, and in my wanderings from it, I had
been exposed to many dangers of climate, disease, the enemy, and the
sea. You will feel, therefore, that it was matter of no common
gratification, after so perilous an absence, to arrive in safety at my
station. But, alas! it remains a solitary consolation; for all my
happiest expectations are disappointed! My books and baggage have been
sent away, and captured by the enemy; my letters, which I had so long
contemplated as a rich fund of delight, have, in the despair of my
coming, been returned to England; and my comrades, the companions of my
voyage to these baleful regions, are most of them either dead, or gone
in search of their lost health to milder climates!
The hope that I was soon to meet the friends who had accompanied me from
England, and to read of those whom I had left behind, had constituted my
best support, through all my toils in proceeding toward St. Domingo;
but, now, the spot which I had anticipated as my happiest residence,
offers only disappointment and sorrow. In my round of duty I shall have
to tread the very steps which have led to the melancholy fate of my
comrades, exposed to the additional affliction of daily passing their
graves.
Your heart will swell with sympathy when you read that my esteemed
friend, Dr. Cleghorn, fell an early victim to the cruel ravager of
European vigour; that my colleagues, Weir, Fellowes, Henderson, and
Carroll, have all returned to England, exhausted by disease; and that my
respected comrade, Dr. Master, was embarking at the very moment of my
arrival, in an almost hopeless state of sickness, for the more temperate
region of North America. Fortunately, the vessel did not sail at the
time appointed; my friend availed himself, therefore, of the opportunity
to return on shore, and we passed a few hours together before he finally
took his departure. To you, who can duly estimate such hours, I need not
say how highly they were appreciated: they were dear to my feelings, and
will ever be hallowed in my remembrance[9].
Having thus lost my friend Master the day after my arrival, and Gen.
Whyte, Col. Grant, Dr. Jackson, &c. having taken up their quarters at
Port au Prince, I find myself amidst a body of strangers, feeling, as it
were, unknown and alone; with the further intimation that I am, already,
left in the island the only physician, of the six who were appointed for
St. Domingo, upon the late great expedition to the western colonies.
In the absence of Mr. Weir, the direction of the medical department
devolves upon Dr. Jackson; but, as he is stationed at head-quarters, I
find the hospitals at the Mole under the immediate control of Dr. Scott,
who has obligingly accompanied me to wait upon Col. Stuart, the military
commandant, and Sir Hyde Parker, the commander in chief of the naval
department; yet I cannot feel that I have decidedly joined the staff, or
that I am officially upon duty at St. Domingo, until I shall have had an
opportunity of reporting myself, at head-quarters, to my friend Gen.
Whyte, who has succeeded to the chief command of the troops. For this
purpose, therefore, I am preparing to make another sea voyage, and shall
embark in the course of a few days for Port au Prince.
Of the Mole I have nothing very interesting to note. It is a valuable
port on account of its safe and commodious harbour for shipping; but
neither the town, nor the country around it, presents any richness or
beauty. The scenery consists of rude and barren mountains, with confined
valleys and narrow heated gullies. The town is built at the edge of the
water, upon a hot and sandy soil; the houses, as is usual in this
climate, are of wood, and exhibit more of convenience than elegance of
structure; some of them are provided with piazzas in front; but, as in
the other towns of the West Indies, they are less general than might be
expected.
Behind the town, in a kind of amphitheatre about it, the rough and
steril land rises into huge mountains; upon the sides of which, and upon
the smaller eminences, have been erected block-houses, which form a
chain of defensive posts, and serve to cover the place, while they
strengthen the general position, rendering it, in a great degree, secure
against the unpractised enemy, with whom we have to contend, although
they might constitute but a feeble barrier against a more disciplined
army of Europeans. At the lower extremity, beyond the streets, is a
formidable battery, commanding the entrance of the harbour; and upon
some hills, separated by a narrow gully from the upper part of the town,
have been erected several of the temporary hospitals brought out from
England, in which the sick are very commodiously accommodated.
These receptacles of disease are far from being tenanted in the same
proportion, at present, as for several months past, during which time
the fever raged here with accumulated fury, spreading dreadful havoc and
destruction among the troops.
A convenient and spacious house, situated in an open square at the best
part of the Mole, is allotted as the quarters of the person appointed to
superintend the hospital department. Since the departure of Mr. Weir,
this has been occupied by Doctors Scott and Master; and I have, now, at
once the fortunate and melancholy lot of succeeding to the apartment
lately occupied by the latter.
A mess is established for the medical officers; and, considering the
scarcity of fresh provisions at this place, it may be said to be well
supplied.
Saltpork, pease-soup, rice, and the vegetables of the country being in
plenty, constitute very useful standing dishes, and the table is seldom
without some addition of fish, poultry, or other fresh animal food.
From the territory immediately round the Mole being in possession of the
enemy, or, to use the more common term, the brigands, stock and other
provisions cannot be procured from the country estates or plantations,
as in the other colonies; the supply therefore depends chiefly on North
America; and in the failure of vessels arriving from the United States,
with stock on board, fresh provisions become extravagantly dear,
insomuch that at times sixteen or eighteen dollars have been paid for a
turkey, ten for a couple of ducks, and six or eight for a pair of
chickens.
Of fruit the quantity is also very limited; the most plentiful are
melons, grapes, and figs: pines, mangoes, shaddocks, and many other
species, which we have been accustomed to meet with in the other
islands, are here very scarce.
In the dry and sandy valley which separates the town from the hills,
whereon the hospitals are erected, means have been taken to raise
vegetables for the use of the sick; and the success of the attempt
displays, very amply, how much may be effected, in this climate, by
culture even of the most arid and seemingly barren soil. By the aid of a
small current of water, a mere gully of sand is converted into a
prolific garden.
The vegetable world, in these regions, is in a high degree obedient to
control, and the abundance and rapidity with which the growth of plants
may be called forth, by only slight attention to the land, is really
surprising. The labour employed is very liberally rewarded, for the most
steril spots, gratefully responsive to the care bestowed upon them,
grant to industry a generous return.