Burials at Sea.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 130, 26 February 1887, Page 6

Burials at Sea.

A little knot ot people are sitting round two officers playing blackgamtnon ; others are sleepiag or dreaming awake, some in their cabins, and some in lounging r Ijairs on deck, three or four smioking and lazily talking in their dreams. Col. Montifex alone seems quite up to time, aud ia telling btoriea in the horsebox of little incidents by eea and land of his voyages and travels. He was on board a large ateamer returning from the West when they touched at Alexandria, and shipped, among others, an invalided soldier, who was fo eeriously ill that the doctors on board considered he could not possibly Hv« through the voyage. The man, however, had an impression, or the doctors had by ?ome observation given him the idea, that if he could perspire it would save him He further believed that the only way to pro duce this effect would bo to put him in boiling water They told him such treatment would be fatal of course— ho would be scalded to death at once ; but nothing would dissuade him ; and at length, at hie earnest request, they sent for Colonel Montifex to talk tho matter over. Tho dying soldier fixed his large strained eyes on the commanding officer, and told him his belief, insisting that the cnly thing j to make him " sweat " would be to pun him in boiling water, and entreating tho c jlnnt'l to give the word, which he knew must be obeyed. It was only the hallucination of a mind already wandering ; but to humour and quiot him the colonol gave an ordor, after consulting the doctors ; and they h>ul him put into the hottest water he could bear. Of course, it was all to no purpose, but the man was satisfied, and now calmly made up his mind to die. i First ho exacted a promise that he should be buried at sea, andthen asked the colonol to wiite a letter for him to his father, to be posted the day after his death. Moutifex promised that all ( should be done exactly as ho wished, and then the poor fellow dictated his letter as nearly as I can remember in the following words :— ■' Dkaii FATiiiin.-I died yesterday. I was Imned to-day in the sea, at my roqu-bt ; so you will have no trouble about mo. Give my love, Your affectionate Son, " When tho letter was finished hh mind was at rest, and he lay back and slept peacefully— a sleep that will not bo broken till tho la=tt awakoning. The following day, when tho ship wn? approaching Venice, which was her next destination, they buried him in tho sea, in fulfilment of the promise made to him ; but as «oon as the vessel got into port, and the health officer discovered what had been done, their huspicions were aroused, and there was a great disturbance. It was said the man must have died of some maliguant and dreadful disease, or else the captain i would not have been in such a hurry to buiy him at sea, when the ship was so near port. So in spite of all explanation and remonstrance, the steamer was put in i quarantine, and no person, of course, was allowed to land. In this unexpected difficulty the captain determined to sail across to Trieste, and utilise the period of probation ; hut on returning to Venice ho found himself in more troublo than before. The body, stitched in canvas, had been washed ashore. There was no mistaking its identity, and the city wa 5 in consternation. Needless to say, no harm came of it, and in due time the excitement subsided ; but it was romarkable that the poor fellow was buiied on shore after all ; although the object of hi 3 simple desire was equally attained, that his father at home should i.nve " no trouble. 1 was lato dressing this morning, and at S a.m., while so engaged, it occurred to me that tho ship had stopped. It could not have been for more than a few minutes, and when I came on deck no one knew what we had stopped for ; but in those few minutca thob-.dy of our head Lascar, the ;eransj of yorftoiday, had boon committed to the deep by his comrade?. He had been ill ouly a few days of remittent fever, and , was aline, stiong, healthy-looking man of exceptionally handsome appearanceIt sterns that the j e Asiatic?, when taken , ill, ate apt to go off quickly ; and if there | U an\ thing at all <-orious tho matter with ' tnem", they aro prone to give up at once and declare thoy &hall die When a Lascar i =ays he shall die ho has made up his mind i to do "o, and generally succeeds, in spite or all the doctors can do to cave hiui. cSometimes he refuse- to take either medicine or food ; and .Dr. Qailler told mo he had before now knell on the chest of such a iiui:i, forced open his mouth, and compelled him to take stimulating die\ i Our aeiang, however, was in no way obstij rsate ; he took what was t^iven him, and did I all that ho was told ; but yesterday after- ! i. -"on he said he should die, and at 11 pm. j he ws« lifeleHF, although, of course, all th^t medical skill could suggest was done to »;»\e him. His comrade anointel the body and draped it in pure white, filling the eyes, uo-e, e:\vs, and mouth with cotton wool. Tuiii they .sang a dirge a j they carried hi* 'euiiind to a ho-pit;tl cabin, where they if i ■.! him, ,'inrj burned candles a f id incense al. through tho night. At eiirht in tho morning, nine hours after i".- 'ioutti, wrapped up in the u?ual canvas c an, weighted at tho feet, they launched hi.ii into tho bluo Atlantic, into the silence o: 'j. 'jrwe 2,000 fathoms (loop. Keating on ;. ".i cilan grating, the body was lowered -.u>\ ly down, and down, to tho level of the ~-\i. '"ken a Httlo lowbr 4 till a wave liftod tl j burden and boie it away. It must have jrli'icd -ik-ntly dov<-n«vardd, past tho open j.urt of my cabin, at the moment that I P-.u-eti to wonder what thy ohip had stopped icr — ''London Society.'"