For two days more the wind blew from the southward and eastward;
or in the short intervals when it was fair, the ice was too thick to
run; yet the weather was not so dreadfully bad, and the crew had watch
and watch. I still remained in my berth, fast recovering, yet still
not well enough to go safely on deck. And I should have been perfectly
useless; for, from having eaten nothing for nearly a week, except a
little rice, which I forced into my mouth the last day or two, I was
as weak as an infant. To be sick in a forecastle is miserable
indeed. It is the worst part of a dog's life; especially in bad
weather. The forecastle, shut up tight to keep out the water and
cold air;- the watch either on deck, or asleep in their berths;- no
one to speak to;- the pale light of the single lamp, swinging to and
fro from the beam, so dim that one can scarcely see, much less read by
it;- the water dropping from the beams and carlines, and running down
the sides; and the forecastle so wet, and dark, and cheerless, and
so lumbered up with chests and wet clothes, that sitting up is worse
than lying in the berth! These are some of the evils.
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