Demijohns of carbolic acid were put on board, by the dozen, at $3.00
per demijohn, all diluted ready for use; and a _guardo_ was put on board
to use it up, which he did religiously over his own precious self, in my
after-cabin, as far from the end of the ship where the danger was as he
could get. Some one else disinfected _el proa_, not he! Abundant as the
stuff was, I had to look sharp for enough to wash out forward while aft
it was knee-deep almost, at three dollars a jar! The harpy that alighted
on deck at Maldonado sent in his bill for one hundred dollars--I paid
eighty.
The cost to me of all this trouble in money paid out, irrelevantly to
mention, was over a thousand dollars. What it cost me in health and
mental anxiety cannot be estimated by such value. Still, I was not the
greatest sufferer. My hardest task was to come, you will believe, at the
gathering up of the trinkets and other purchases which the crew had
made, thoughtful of wife and child at home. All had to be burned, or
spoiled with carbolic acid! A hat for the little boy here, a pair of
boots for his mamma there, and many things for the _familia_ all
around--all had to be destroyed!
FOOTNOTES:
[2] In our discourse, Yahoo was spoken, but I write it in
English because many of my readers would not understand the original.
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