Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-22
CHAPTER XIV.
THE MATE ENJOYS HIMSELF

CHAPTER XIV.
THE MATE ENJOYS HIMSELF.
| 1t is the custom on shipboard for either
the chief officer or the captain to serve out
medicine when needed, extract teeth, set
broken limbs, etc, regardless of the fact
that they generally have little or no knowl-
edge of the proper manner in which to per-
form these operations and as the Latin
names of the medicines which the law CON-
pels every vessel to carry would be utterly
unintelligible to most old seadogs, the vials
and packages are numbered and a little
book accompanies the medicine chest, in
which is given instructions how to proceed
in case of various accidents to which sailors
would naturally be liable. There are also
| given the symptoms of different kinds of
sickness, with instructions how to treat the
same. Thus, for chills and fever, ''two
spoonfuls of No. 8. and for rheumatism,
''ten drops Of No. 49, all remedies being
designated simply by numbers.
| 1t is an old legend among whalemen that
| upon one occasion merchantmen met an
| old whaler at sea, and, observing her colors
at half mast, ran down and hailed her. ask
| ing what the trouble might be. 'I've Just
| buried man," was the response 'What
was the matter with him?" oval, vou see
he hadn't been feelin' we'll for a couple er
days, and the book said to give him ten
drops O. number 10. I was all out O. 15 so 1
give him some No. and No. mixed, an
it killed him!' / cannot vouch for the
truth of this warn, but from some things I
have seen in that line 1 could readily be-
lleve it.
Our mate was Just that kind of man.
Devoid of any feeling Of sympathy for a
man in pain, he delighted in attending to
all the cuts and bruises he could find The
Captain had too much regard tor us to trust
Mr.. Lawrie with the medicines, but he had
surgeons lancet of his own and pair of
dentists cold style rollers" with which he
extracted teeth whenever he could induce
any one to submit himself to his tender
mercies. His method was to seat the
sufferer on deck, with his head firmly held
between a third party's knees, hook on his
rollers. expectorate on the palm of his hand,
and Law out all his strength. If the handle
held, the tooth came out, and he would ask,
with iendish grin: ''Think your Jaws
broke?" It's wonder mine was not, for
he extracted three for me during the voy-
age.
While we were in Vac Vac the captains
dog, large Newfoundland, bit one of the
Portuguese sailors near the knee 1t was
thought to be of no consequence at the time,
as but one tooth entered the flesh, leaving a
very small wound. From some cause it
rapidly spread, until very large hole was
finally the result. In spite of the mates
lotions 1t rapidly increased in size and re-
fused to heal, whereupon he resolved upon
heroic measures, and said to me one day:
81 amt much of little pill doctor, but 1
know lots about surgeons business an I'm
going to cut that Gees sore outp'
1 tried to dissuade him, but in vain.
'"Tain't no use,' said he, ''good fesh'H
heal an poor flesh won't, I know what I'm
doin'. Why, look here; last vige 1 seen
the old man set feller's leg as nice as
pin. 1t was all stove up, too, so he had to
perform a compound substraction on itv'
This was too much. and it was some mo-
ments before I could find my voice to e1-
plain to him that it must have been "com-
pound fracture" that allied the man.
However, he tied the sailor to the deck,
and coolly inserted his lance outside the
diseased part, ran it entirely around the
sore and removed it, leaving hole the size
of silver dollar in the poor chaps limb. 1t
finally healed, but left an ugly scar.
1t was one of the mates peculiarities to
indulge in 'fbig words" and the facility
with which he would at times perpetrate
some atrocious misapplication of them
would have shamed Mrs. Partington her.
self
In most of the ports at which we called
there were no dentists, and people would
come many miles to have their teeth ex-
tracted, knowing ship always carried the
necessary instruments; and here the mate
shone in all his glory. He wanted no paw.
not he; all he wanted was to get at the
tooth, and no work was too important to
leave, no nap too sweet to postpone, if his
services were required; and when he finally
broke his rollers on Custom House Off
GERS tooth in Mongonui, knew he would
as soon have broken finger, at least
Several of our men ran away as the ship
began to fit for sea again, but all were cap
tured except the one 1 have before men
toned. whose native sweetheart had found
safe retreat for him. We took 1900
old cocoanuts on board for our pigs, an
abundance of oranges and bananas, filled
our water casks, and took large quantity
of green ironwood for fuel, it being the
only available kind, but it nearly broke the
cooks heart to saw or split it, as when it
began to get seasoned it would turn the
edge of a sharp ak.
We had now been several weeks in port
and in company with the Alaska we hove
our anchor and stood out through the isl
ands once more.
We had three Kanakas on board who
wished to ship with US, and when one of
them saw the town behind us growing
smaller and smaller, he was overcome with
homesickness. and before we were aware of
his intention he leaped into the sea and
struck out swiftly for small island less
than half mile away We let him 90, a.
We had no right to take any of them with
out the chiefs permission. The other two
made the entire voyage with us and landed
in New Bedford, where they were re-
shipped in another vessel which would
probably visit some of the islands near
their home.