wife they might be expofed to putrid fevers, which are feldom eafily removed. 66 13. Sleeping with the windows open in hot climates is fo unwholefome, that many have hardly time enough to repent of their imprudence. Those who travel on foot, fhould never fleep under the shadow of a tree, or near a hemp field. 66 14. Thirst is more effectually quenched by eating fresh fruit, and a morfel of bread, than by drinking water and if no fruit is to be had, it is better to mix a little vinegar, or the juice of a lemon with it, than to drink it by itself. avoided, for they not only bring on illness, but fometimes prove the death of the perfon, who has the misfortune to fleep in one. Thofe who travel fhould examine the beds, to fee whether they are quite dry, and have the bed-clothes in their prefence pur before the fire. If the mattreffes are fufpected, it will be preferable to lie down on dry and clean straw. If a friend offers you a bed, endeavour to have it warmed, with the neceffary precautions, because there are in certain houses certain beds kept only for particular vifitors, and therefore they might be damp, if not used for a long while. 66 15. After a long journey on foot, it is unwholefome to take a plentiful meal, or to fit near a great fire. 16. Such as are under the neceffity of remaining in places in a marthy fituation, fhould refide in apartments in the upper ftories, and in dry houses; they ought to take proper exercise, without labour, in the fun, or, the evening damps; a juft quantity of vinous liquors, and victuals of good nourishment, are neceffary in fuch circumstances. "17. A perfon who is not accustomed to walk a great deal, fhould gradually increafe the length of the tation. If the wind is very high, it is better to have it fideways, than in the face. 21. People whofe clothes have been wet through, fhould look for very dry beds, have the sheets well aired, put on clean fhirts, fmoking them first with fugar, or fomething of that nature, and before they go to bed, rub their fkins with dry flannel, which promotes perfpiration. Thofe parts of the body that have been wet, ought to be washed with lukewarm water, in which a little foap has been diffolved. Thofe whom circumstances may not permit to put on dry clothes, fhould keep their bodies in conftant motion, till the clothes are become dry again upon them: this inconvenience ought to be avoided as much as poffible, becaufe it brings on rheumatic pains, agues, colics, &c. to people who are not used to it. "22. Perfons who have perfpired copioufly from the heat of the fun, fhould fhelter themselves as much as oppotunity will permit, during the falling of the dew; if they cannot avoid it, they should by no means fit down. Continual exercise favours tranfpiration, and diminifhes the bad confequences which the cool air expofes people to. 23. Since a body, which is void of food, is more apt to attract contagious PRECAUTIONS to be used by those who are about to undertake a SEA VOYAGE. [By Dr. FRANKLIN.] HEN you intend to take a long voyage, nothing is better than to keep it a fecret, as much as poffible, till the moment of your departure. Without this you will be continually interrupted and tormented by vifits from friends and acquaintances, who not only make you lofe your valuable time, but make you forget a thoufand things which you with to remember; fo that when you are embarked and fairly at fea, you recollect with much uneasinefs, affairs which you have not terminated, accounts that you have not settled, and a nomber of things which you propofed to carry with you, and which you find the want of every moment. Would it not be attended with the best confequences to reform fuch a custom, and to fuffer a traveller without deranging him, to make his preparations in quietnefs, to fet apart a few days, when these are finished to take leave of his friends, and to receive their good wifhes for his happy return? "It is not always in one's power to choose a captain, though great part of the pleasure and happiness of the paffage depends upon this choice, and though one must for a long time be confined to his com pany, and be in fome measure under his command. If he is a focial fenfible man, obliging, and of a good difpofition, you will be fo much the happier. One fometimes meets with people of this defcription, but they are not common. However, if yours be not of this number, if he be a good feaman, attentive, careful, and active in the management of his veffel, you must difpenfe with the reft, for these are the most effential qualities. "Whatever right you may have by your agreement with him, to the provifions which he has taken on board for the use of the paffengers, it is always proper to have fome private flore, which you may make use of occafionally. You ought therefore, to provide good water, that of the thip being often bad; but you must put it into bottles, without which, you cannot expect to preferve it fweet. You ought also to carry with you good tea, ground coffee, chocolate, wine of that fort which you like beft, cyder, dried raifins, almonds, fugar, capiliaire, citrons, rum, eggs dipped in oil, portable foup, bread twice baked. With regard regard to poultry, it is almost useless to carry any with you, unless you refolve to undertake the office of feeding and fattening them yourself. With the little care which is taken of them on board ship, they are almost all fickly, and their flesh is as tough as leather. All failors entertain an opinion, which has undoubtedly originated formerly from a want of water, and when it has been found neceffary to fpare it, that poultry never know when they have drunk enough, and that when water is given them at difcretion, they generally kill them felves by drinking beyond meafure. In confequence of this opinion, they give them water only once in two days, and even then in fmall quantities; but as they pour this water into troughs, inclining to one fide, which occafions it to run to the lower part, it thence happens, that they are obliged to mount one upon the back of another, in order to reach it, and there are fome, which cannot even dip their beaks in it. Thus continually tantalized and tormented by thirst, they are unable to digeft their food, which is very dry, and they foon fall fick and die; fome of then are found thus every morning, and are thrown into the fea; whilft thofe which are killed for the table are fcarcely fit to be eaten. To remedy this inconveniece it will be necef fary to divide their troughs into fmall compartments, in fuch a manner, that each of them may be capable of containing water; but this is feldom or never done. On this account, fheep and hogs are to be confidered as the best fresh provifions that one can have at fea; mutton there being in general very good, and pork excellent. "It may happen that fome of the provifions and tores, which I have recommended, may become almoft ufelefs, by the care which the captain has taken to lay in a proper flock; but in fuch a cafe, you may difpofe of it to relieve the poor paffengers, who paying lefs for their paflage, are ftowed among the common failors, and have no right to the captain's provifions, except to fuch part of them as is ufed for feeding the crew. Thefe paffengers are fometimes fick, melancholy and dejected, and there are often women and children among them, neither of whom have any opportunity of procuring thofe things which I have mentioned, and of which, perhaps, they have the greatest need. By distributing amongst them a part of your fuperfluity, you may be of the greatest affistance to them. You may restore their health, fave their lives, and in fort render them happy, which always affords the livelief pleasure to a feeling mind. "The most difagreeable thing at fea, is the cookery, for there is not, properly fpeaking, any profefled cook on board. The worst failor is generally chofen for that purpofe, who for the most part is equally dirty and unfkilful; hence comes the proverb ufed among the English failors, that " God fends meat, and the Devil fends cooks." Thofe, however, who have a better opinion of Providence, will think otherwife : knowing that fea air, and the exer cife or motion, which they receive from the rolling of the fhip, have a wonderful effect in whetting thể appetite, they will fay that Providence has given failors bad cooks, to prevent them from eating too much; or that knowing they would have bad cooks, he has given them a good appetite, to prevent them from dying with hunger. However, if you have no confidence in thefe fuccours of Providence, you may yourfelf, with a lamp and a boiler, by the help of a little fpirits of wine, prepare fome food, fuch as foup, hafh, &c. Afmall oven made of tin plate is not a bad * piece of furniture; your fervant may roaft in it a piece of mutton or pork. If you are ever tempted to cat falt beef, which is often very good, you will find that cyder is the beft liquor to quench the thirst generally caused by falt meat, or falt fish. Sea bifcuit which is too hard for the teeth of fome people, may be foftened by steeping it; but bread double baked is the best, for being made of good loaf bread cut into flices, and baked a fecond time, it readily imbibes water, becomes foft, and is eafily digested: it confequently forms excellent nourishment, much fuperior to that of bifcuit, which has not been fermented. "I must here, obferve, that this double baked bread was originally the real biscuit prepared to keep at fea; for the word Bifcuit, in French, fignifies twice baked. Pease often boil badly, and do not become foft; in fuch a cafe by putting a twopound fhot into the kettle, the rolling of the veffel, by means of this bullet, will convert the peafe into a kind of poridge like muftard. "When navigation is employed only for tranfporting neceffary pro vifions from one country where they abound, to another where they are wanting, when by this it prevents famines which were so frequent and fo fatal before it was invented, and became fo common, we cannot help confidering it as one of thofe aris which contribute most to the happinefs of mankind. "But when it it employed to tranfport things of no utility, or ar ticle's merely of luxury, it is then uncertain whether the advantages refulting from it are sufficient to coun tet-balance the misfortunes which it occafions, by expofing the lives of fo many individuals upon the vast ocean. And when it is used to plunder veffels and transport flaves, it is evidently only the dreadful means of increafing those calamities which afflict human nature. "One is aftonifhed to think on the number of veffels and men who are daily expofed in going to bring tea from China, coffee from Arabia, and fugar and tobacco from America; all commodities which our anc ftors lived very well without. The fugar trade employs nearly a thoufand veffels, and that of tobacco almoft the fame number. With regard to the utility of tobacco little can be faid; and with regard to fugar, how much more meritorious would it be, to facrifice the momentary pleasure which we receive from drinking it once or twice a day in our tea, than to encourage the numberless cruelties that are continually exercised in order to procure it to us? "Having often feen foup when put upon the table at fea in broad flat dishes, thrown out on every fide by the rolling of the veffel, I have wifhed that our tinmen would make our foup bafons with divifions or compartments, forming fmall plates, proper for containing foup for one perfon only. By this difpofition the foup in an extraordinary roll would not be thrown out of the plate, and would not fall into the breafts of." A celebrated French moralift those who are at table, and fcald faid, that when he confidered the them. Having entertained you with wars which we foment in Africa to thefe things of little importance, get negroes, the great number who permit me now to conclude with of courfe perifh in these wars, the fome general reflections upon navi- multiude of those wretches who die gation. in their passage by disease, bad air, and and bad provifions, and laftly, how many perish by the cruel treatment they meet with in a state of flavery, when he faw a bit of fugar, he could not help imagining it to be covered with fpots of human blood; but had he added to the fe confiderations, the wars which we carry on against one another, to take and retake the iflands that produce this commodity, he would not have feen the fugar. fimply fpotted with blood, he would have beheld it entirely tinged with it. "Thefe wars make the maritime powers of Europe, and the inhabitants of Paris and London, pay much dearer for their fugar than thofe of Vienna, though they are almost three hundred leagues diftant from the fea. A pound of fugar, indeed, cofts the former not only the price which they give for it, but alfo what they pay in taxes, neceffary to fupport thofe fleets and armies, which ferve to defend and protect the countries that produce it." Singular ACCOUNT of what may be effected, by rigid ŒCONOMY. T [From ANDREWs's Anecdotes Ancient and Modern.] HE following letter contains an inftance of the moft excellent domeftic management, which imagination can conceive. It may be depended on, for facetious as the writer is known to be, he never indulges his humour at the expence of his veracity; and he avers every circumstance there related to be literally true. "You ask me what I have feen, in my ramble, worth relating. You are no antiquarian, I will not therefore teafe you with ruined abbeys, Gothic caffles, Roman and Danifl camps, or Druidical circles, but confine my narrarive to a human curiofity. This is a Mr. Obaldefton, an attorney's clerk, and, fpite of the popular prejudices against his profeffion, faid to be an honeft man. This you will allow to be a curiofity, but that is not all. This ho neft limb of the law is married, and has, at least, half a dozen children, all whom, with as many couple of hounds, and a brace of hunters, he maintains out of, how much do you think? Guefs a little, I pray you. 1789. Why then, to fupport himself, a wife, fix children, twelve dogs, and two horfes, he has not a penny more than fixty pounds per annum! And, if poffible to increase the miracle, he did this in London for many years, paying every body their own, and keeping a tight coat for Sundays and holidays. But I will try to explain this feeming paradox. After the expiration of the time which Mr. Ofbaldefton owed his mafter, he acted as an accountant for the butchers in Clare-market, who paid him in offal; the choicest morfels of this, he felected for himfelf and family, and with the reft he fed his hounds, which he kept in his garret. His horfes were lodged in his cellar, and fed on grains from a neighbouring brewhoufe, and on damaged corn, with which he was fupplied by a corn-chandler, whofe books he kept in order. Once or twice a week, in the feason, he hunted, and by giving a hare, now and then, to the farmers, over whofe grounds he fported, fecured their good-will, and permiffion. N Befives |