Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/48

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38
VOYAGE IN SEARCH
[1791.

tion of the veſſel; for whenever we have put out to ſea, after having lain a ſhort time at anchor, I have always been diſordered for two or three days as much as I was after our departure from Breſt. The ſailors adviſe one, in theſe caſes, to endeavour to eat, notwithſtanding the loathing of food that always accompanies this diſorder. But this piece of advice it is very difficult to follow; for beſides the pain produced by the action of ſwallowing, the preſence of food in the ſtomach increaſes the nauſea, and the vomiting that ſupervenes is ſtill more diſtreſſing.

Diluting liquors, taken in ſmall quantities at a time, ſo as not to burden the ſtomach, have always afforded me the moſt relief. Lukewarm water, nightly ſweetened with ſugar, is the drink which I have generally uſed, as it is the eaſieſt to be procured at ſea.

We had, however, ſeveral perſons on board, who, though they had never been at ſea before, experienced not the ſmalleſt inconvenience from the toſſing of the ſhip. Such a conſtitution is very deſirable for thoſe who undertake long voyages; for it is impoſſible to deſcribe the diſagreeable ſenſations that attend this ſpaſmodic affection, which, as it operates upon every part of the frame, produces ſuch a general depreſſion of its

powers,