WE

7E flatter ourselves that no apology is neceffary for troubling you with this address, calculated to convey to you every information we mafters of, which we think may be of ufe to you in the attainment of the laudable end you have in view, to forward the interefts of fociety in geperal, and thofe of the nation in particular,

"We understand that when the building of a lazaretto was agitated in England fome time ago, the chief objection to it was the great expence it would be to the nation, which did not reap any adequate advantaes by the Turkey trade. We are as much perfuaded that the want of a lazaretto in England has been the cause of the Turkey trade not being, till now, more worth the notice of government, as that the establishment of one will render it an object of great importance to the nation. It will not only be productive of the immediate advantages which flow from an extenfiye and flourishing trade, but will free the kingdom from the rifk it now runs of the plague being introduced into it. That a lazaretto will be productive of these two ends. we hope to prove to your fatisfaction by what we are now going to lay before you.

"It is enacted by act of parliament that when any veffel loads tor England, in any of the ports of Turkey, and departs with a foul bill of health, fuch veffels fhall per. forin quarantine at Malta, Leghorn,

or Venice. The numberless hardhips which this fubjects our export trade to, amount almost to a total fuppreflion of it. A fingle accident of the plague in this large city and its environs, or one brought from any other infected place, though this city may be entirely free from it, obliges the conful to iffue foul bills of health. As no information, to be depended upon, can be procured from the Turks concerning the plague, and as the Greek nation is the next moft numerous one in the city, the confuls apply to the deputies of it for information, when there are any reports of the plague, and, according to the answer they receive, they either iffue clean or foul bills of health. It often happens that the Greeks themselves are authors of falfe reports concerning the plague, and that their deputies inform the confuls of accidents hav ing happened in their nation, when in reality there is no plague in the city or its environs. The motive which induces them to give this falfe information is obvious. The Greeks carry on three-fourths of the Dutch as well as Italian trade; it is therefore their intereft (and unfortunately that of every other nation) to deprefs ours as much as poffible; and there is not a more effectual method of doing this than by obliging our veffels to go to perform a long and expenfive quarantine in the ports of the Mediterranean, by which means the cottons, which form their principal loading, as well as the chief article of both trades,

are

are no less than feven months on their way to London. This long inter, val gives the Greeks time to load their fhips; and, as they perform a very thort quarantine in Holland (of the nature of which we fhall fpeak more particularly hereafter) they fupply our markets by copious exportations of the cottons that were loaded here at the fame time with ours, two or three months before our veffels can reach England. It is by this means that more than half the Turkey cottons confumed in England are fupplied by the Dutch, to the great fupport of their Turkey trade, and the ruin of ours; and it is by this means that, whilft our trade is facrificed by rigorous quarantine laws, to confiderations of national fafety, the plague may be introduced into the kingdom by the Dutch. To prove that this risk actually exifts, and in no small degree, we need only inform you of the method in which Dutch veffels, loaded here in the height of the plague, perform quarantine in Holland. On their arrival at Helvoet fluys, a doctor is fent on board of them to vifit the crew, which he does by feeling their pulfe; after which he immediately returns to the fhore, and reports the ftate of their health three or four days af. ter this, the veffel is ordered to a place at a distance from the rest of the fhipping, and two or three lighters are fent along fide, into which are only emptied the cottons that are in the 'tween decks, and the hatches are opened on pretence of airing the goods in the hold, which form the principal part of the cargo, and which remain untouched till the forty days are over; when they are unloaded into the merchants warehoufes, or into the veffels destined to transport them to England. Thus you fee, fr, that

one part of the goods perform a flovenly quarantine, and the rest may be faid to perform none at all; for, as the air cannot penetrate into holds fo clofely ftowed with cottons as they always are, the forty days they remain in the veffel after her arrival can only be confidered as forty days added to her paffage. In this manner cottons are brought into England that have undergone no purification at all; and if it fhould happen that they are infected, nothing is more eafy than the infection's being introduced into England by their means. English veffels can only begin to load here direct for Eng land forty days after the laft accident of the plague; and if any accident happen whilft they are in loading, they must either go away immediately with the few goods they may have on board, or else they must wait in port, on a cruel uncertainty, forty days after the laft reported accident, whether real or invented, if they do not prefer the hard alternative of continuing their loading, and going away with a foul bill of health, to perform quarantine in fome of the lazarettos in the the Mediterranean; on the contrary, Dutch veffels may be three months in loading, they may have taken the greatest part of their cargo in whilst the plague raged, and, notwithftanding this, if they are in port forty days after the last accident, clean bills of health are granted" them, in virtue of which they only perform twenty-one days quarantine in the flovenly manner above mentioned.

Our government has reasonably laid a quarantine on cotrons imported into England from Holland; but we understand that when this bas been the cafe, the quarantine in Holland, fuch as it is, has been curtailed by the connivance of roofe

who

who fhould regulate it; by this manœuvre, the end of our government in laying a quarantine, is entirely defeated. This total difregard of fo ferious an object, as the legu lation of quarantines must be, to all nations, gives fo great an advantage to the Dutch Turkey trade over ours, that it induces their govern ment to overlook the risks the nation incurs by it; and when reprefentations were made in Holland on the neceffity of establishing a lazaretto to obviate this rifk, and the fatal confequences which the introduction of the plague might be of to all Europe, the thrifty Hollanders, ever preferring the interefts of their trade to those of humanity, would not allow fo forcible an argument to have any weight with them; but gave for anfwer, that it would be time enough to think of a lazaretto when the English built one. The Dutch traders have fo decided a fuperioity over us at our own markets, that it is only the neceffity gentlemen are in to have returns, which can induce us to fhip any cottons at all during the exiftence of the plague here; for by arriving after our markets are fupplied, loaded befides with ten per cent. extra charges, incurred in the ports where they perform quarantine, they are fold to a confiderable lofs. This circumftance alone is fufficient to account for the prefent infignificance of our trade, and the confequent little advantage the nation reaps from it. In what a different fituation would the establishment of a lazaretto put it? By depriving the Dutch of the advantages they now enjoy, we should be able to fupply the whole quantity of cotton demanded at our markets; instead of only fending five thousand bales, we fhould fend more than double the quantity annually; and as, by a

fixed regulation of the Levant com pany, we can only purchase the products of this country with the produce of goods fent from England, the importation of our manu factures would increase in the fame proportion. The quantity of flipping employed in the trade would likewise be doubled, and by earning the freight which is now paid to the Dutch, on the cottons they fend to England, it would be so much clear gain to the nation, added to the advantages which would attend the extention of its navigation, and the increafe of the confurption of its manufactures; advantages which are now enjoyed by our rivals the Dutch, the profperity of whose trade is founded on the ruin of ours.

"We are aware that the building of a lazaretto would cost the nation a confiderable fum of money; but we think the commercial advantages it would derive from it would alone be more than a compenfation for fuch a charge. It would not only be the fhips which load in the ports of Turkey, but thote from all the ports in the Mediterranean, which would contribute to its fupport.

"Admitting, however, that the Turkey trade is not fo far worth the notice of government as to induce it to build a lazaretto for it, the confideration alone of its preferving the nation from the great ifk it now evidently runs of fuch a great calamity as the plague being introduced into it, we prefume is of fufficient importance to make government de terinine on a measure which every ftate in Italy has confidered fo neceffary, that the most infignificant amongst them have their lazarettos. The knowledge you have acquired of the plans and regulations of thefe, and every other lazaretto in Europe, in your prefent tour, is fo much fu

perior to any information we can give you, that we do not prefume to trouble you on the fubject.

"Should your reprefentations meet with the fuccefs they will deferve, the nation at large will experience, in a new inftance, the advantages that can be derived from the purfuits of a individual, who, from the nobleft motives, dedicates himself to the interests of humanity, and we, as well as every other member of the Levant com

pany, fhall confider ourselves as indebted to you for the revival of our drooping trade.

Smyrna, July 3,1786.

William Barker,
Jofeph Franel,
Richard Lee, jun.

Edward Lee,

Ifaac Morier,

James Hicks Gribble, Anthony Hayes, jun. Frederick Hayes, George Perkins, Thomas J. Barker.”

1.

Traveller ought to be perfectly well acquainted with what agrees, or difagrees with his conftitution, and obferve thofe rules which custom has established in favour of his health, at least as far as circumstances will admit of. He will act prudently, to pay a ftri&t attention with regard to eating, drinking, drefs, exercife, and rett, and conform to the customs, and mode of life of the most sober clafs of the inhabitants of the country he is in. Experience has taught people of all countries, which manner of living is the most wholesome in the climate they inhabit.

"2. Though the fiefta (the afternoon's fleep) agrees perfecily well with most foreigners in Spain and Italy; nevertheless it is liable to bring on apoplexics in cold climates, where meat and foporiferous malt liquors are ufed in great quantity. Travellers in warm countries, who may be invited to an afternoon's fleep, ought to obferve, that the duration of it hould be proportioned to the quick

or difficult digestion of the perfon: one quarter of an hour, or half an hour is fufficient; people fhould always be awaked before the end of an hour. To fleep in a horizontal pofition would be prejudicial; the fittest place for that kind of reft is an arm chair, or a canopee. The head ought to be laid high, and the body bent backwards, and a little turned towards the left fide. Every thing that is likely to prevent the circulation of the blood, muit be removed, otherwife violent headachs will be felt.

"3. Water is very unwholesome in fome places, and ought to be confidered fo, if foap will not diffolve in it. If a perfon fhould happen to be very thirfly, and no other drink to be had, that water fhould he foaked through a piece of very fine linen, and a little vinegar, juice of lemon, or a toast put into it. It would be fiill better to boil it, if the circumftances will admit, and drink it when cool. Wells, that are fitusted in marthy grounds, or near

privics,

privies, or those which are observed to have a whitish fcum on the furface of the water, are generally reckoned to be unwholesome.

"4. Violent exercise after dinner is prejudicial, and more fo in warm countries than in cold ones; therefore people who travel on horseback, or in a vehicle, whofe motion is rather violent, will act prudently, if they eat and drink fparingly. The shaking of the carriage heats the blood, confequently trong liquors fhould be taken with the greatest moderation, particularly in fouthern climates.

66 5. Cleanliness requires people to bathe oftener when they are travelling than when they are at home; yet they must be very careful never to bathe when their blood is agitated, or the stomach full, or the day is very hot. The cool morning and evening hours are the only times to take this falutiferous recreation. Even the most expert fwimmer fhould never bathe in the fea or in a river, without taking along with him another perfon, who knows how to fwim. He fhould be careful to choose a bathing place where the bottom is clear fand, and has no fea weeds upon it; for they frequently contain a fpecies of pointed fhells, which are apt to inflict dangerous wounds if trodden upon. One of the most neceffary precautions in bathing, is to plunge into the water head foremost, other wife the blood rushing into the head expofes the perfon to an apoplectic

attack.

circulation. If the windows of the carriage are kept to, the air is foon affected, and may prove prejudicial to refpiration.

66

"7. Feather-beds and counterpanes of cotton are very fiable to collect noxious exhalations; for this reason those who travel, ought to make use of the hartskins, described under the remarks on inns.

❝8. The vapours of charcoal are alfo exceedingly prejudicial; people fhould be remarkably careful never to permit a pan of charcoal to be brought into their apartment, unless it is quite burnt to afhes; it would be dangerous to fleep with it in the bed-room, as a great many lives have been loft in that manner.

"9. In marfly grounds the air is remarkably unhealthy, and there are countries, for instance the Pontin Marthes in the Pope's dominions, where it is often attended with fatal confequences to fleep even in day time. Foreigners fhould inform themselves minutely concerning the falubrity or unwholesomeness of the air of thofe places where they fleep, and take the neceffary precautions to guard against the deftructive effects of the latter.

“10. Sweet or boiled wines, such as are to be found in the Papal dominions on the coast of the Adriatic, delay the digeftive faculty for a long time, and as they tend exceffively to inflame the blood, they must be used in the most sparing manner.

12. Travellers in warm climates fhould abstain from meat as much as poffible, particularly at night, other