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The little order that reigned in the lazaretto, the bad quality

of the food, and the standing water which was drank plentifully,

soon created numerous maladies. To these causes of mortality, so

much the more active from operating on bodies already exhausted

or enfeebled, was added the unfavourableness of the season;

obstinate rains, followed by more obstinate drought, and violent

heat. To these physical evils were added others of a moral

nature, despair and wearisomeness in captivity, desire for

accustomed habits, regret for cherished beings of whom these

unfortunate beings had been deprived; painful apprehension for

those who were living, and the continual dread of death, which

had itself become a new and powerful cause of the extension of

disease. It is not to be wondered at that mortality increased in

this species of prison to such a degree as to assume the

appearance and deserve the name of pestilence. The number of

deaths in the lazaretto soon amounted to a hundred daily.