Note 30 — Chapter VII

It is much to the credit of the officers, who served on shore from the landing on the island till the reduction of Fort Bourbon, a period of forty-seven days, that they shared the same hardships as the privates without a murmur, sleeping in their clothes the whole time; and being so situated that they seldom could have the benefit of tents or any kind of hovel, they were exposed continually to the heavy rains and nocturnal damps which in a tropical climate so severely try the constitution; but, owing (as it was imagined) to the flannel shirts which were invariably worn by all ranks, they, as yet, suffered less from sickness than could have been expected.