Europe

E l’Affrica nelle marine, e nelle sue provincie di verso levante, e le rive del nostro Mare tirreno. E venendo di tempo in tempo verso il ponente, comprese la Sardigna, e la Corsica, e l’altre isole di questo mare; e dall’altra parte, ch’è detta Europa, per simigliante modo aggiunse alle parti vicine verso il ponente, volgendosi verso il mezzogiorno con più aspro assalimento che sotto le parti settentrionali. E negli anni di Cristo 1348 ebbe infetta tutta Italia, salvo che la città di Milano, e certi circustanti all’Alpi, che dividono l’Italia dall’Alamagna, ove gravò poco. E in questo medesimo anno cominciò a passare le montagne, e stendersi in Proenza, e in Savoia, e nel Dalfinato, e in Borgogna, e per la marina di Marsilia e d’Acquamorta, e per la Catalogna, e nell’isola di Maiolica, e in Ispagna e in Granata. E nel 1349 ebbe compreso fino nel ponente, le rive del Mare oceano, d’Europa e d’Affrica e d’Irlanda, e l’isola d’Inghilterra e di Scozia, e l’altre isole di ponente, e tutto infra terra con quasi eguale mortalità salvo in Brabante ove poco offese. E nel 1350 premette gli Alamanni, e gli Ungheri, Frigia, Danesmarche, Gotti, e Vandali, e gli altri popoli e nazioni settentrionali.

It took in the coasts of Africa and its eastern lands, and the shores of our Tyrrhenian Sea. Moving westward over time, it took in Sardinia, Corsica, and the other islands of this sea. On the other side, called Europe, it reached the nearby lands to the west in the same way, striking the south more fiercely than the north. In the year of Christ 1348 it had infected all Italy except the city of Milan and some places near the Alps, which divide Italy from Germany; there it weighed lightly. That same year it began to cross the mountains and spread into Provence, Savoy, the Dauphiné, and Burgundy, along the coast at Marseille and Aigues-Mortes, and into Catalonia, the island of Majorca, Spain, and Granada. By 1349 it had reached the shores of the Ocean in the far west, in Europe, Africa, and Ireland, the islands of England and Scotland, and the other western islands. Inland, too, the mortality was almost equal everywhere, except in Brabant, where it did little harm. In 1350 it bore down on the Germans, the Hungarians, Frisia, Denmark, the Goths and Vandals, and the other peoples and nations of the north.

Of these people those that dwell vpon the branches of Orenoque called Capuri and Macureo, are for the most part Carpenters of Canoas, for they make the most and fairest houses, and sell them into Guiana for gold, and into Trinedado for Tobacco, in the excessiue taking whereof, they exceede all nations, and notwithstanding the moistnes of the aire in which they liue, the hardnes of their diet, and the great labors they suffer to hunt, fish, and foule for their liuing, in all my life either in the Indies or in Europe did I neuer behold a more goodlie or better fauoured people, or a more manlie.

Of these people, those who live on the branches of the Orinoco called Capuri and Macureo are mostly builders of canoes. They make the most and finest houses, and sell them into Guiana for gold, and into Trinidad for tobacco, in the excessive use of which they outdo all nations. They live in damp air, their diet is hard, and they endure great labor to hunt, fish, and fowl for their living. And yet in all my life, either in the Indies or in Europe, I never saw a more handsome or better-looking people, or a more manly one.

Pendant notre séjour forcé à l'entrée de la baie, nous avions sans cesse été entourés de pirogues de sauvages. Ils nous proposaient, en échange de notre fer, du poisson, des peaux de loutre ou d'autres animaux, ainsi que différens petits meubles de leur costume ; ils avaient l'air, à notre grand étonnement, d'être très-accoutumés au trafic, et ils faisaient aussi-bien leur marché que les plus habiles acheteurs d'Europe.

While we were held at the entrance of the bay, we were constantly surrounded by the savages' canoes. They offered us fish, the skins of sea otters and other animals, and various small items of their dress, in exchange for our iron. To our great surprise, they seemed very used to trading, and they drove as good a bargain as the shrewdest buyers in Europe.

139. — L'adoption des restaurateurs, qui de France a fait le tour de l'Europe, est d'un avantage extrême pour tous les citoyens, et d'une grande importance pour la science.

Restaurants have spread from France all over Europe. They are a great benefit to every citizen and of great importance for the science [of gastronomy].

For months the great Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land was chatted about in the newspapers every where in America, and discussed at countless firesides. It was a novelty in the way of Excursions — its like had not been thought of before, and it compelled that interest which attractive novelties always command. It was to be a picnic on a gigantic scale. The participants in it, instead of freighting an ungainly steam ferry-boat with youth and beauty and pies and doughnuts, and paddling up some obscure creek to disembark upon a grassy lawn and wear themselves out with a long summer day's laborious frolicking under the impression that it was fun, were to sail away in a great steamship with flags flying and cannon pealing, and take a royal holiday beyond the broad ocean, in many a strange clime and in many a land renowned in history! They were to sail for months over the breezy Atlantic and the sunny Mediterranean; they were to scamper about the decks by day, filling the ship with shouts and laughter — or read novels and poetry in the shade of the smoke-stacks, or watch for the jelly-fish and the nautilus, over the side, and the shark, the whale, and other strange monsters of the deep; and at night they were to dance in the open air, on the upper deck, in the midst of a ball-room that stretched from horizon to horizon, and was domed by the bending heavens and lighted by no meaner lamps than the stars and the magnificent moon — dance, and promenade, and smoke, and sing, and make love, and search the skies for constellations that never associate with the “Big Dipper” they were so tired of; and they were to see the ships of twenty navies — the customs and costumes of twenty curious peoples — the great cities of half a world — they were to hob-nob with nobility and hold friendly converse with kings and princes, Grand Moguls, and the anointed lords of mighty empires!

For months the great Pleasure Excursion to Europe and the Holy Land was chatted about in the newspapers everywhere in America, and discussed at countless firesides. It was a novelty in the way of excursions. Its like had not been thought of before, and it compelled that interest which attractive novelties always command. It was to be a picnic on a gigantic scale. The people in it were not to load an ungainly steam ferryboat with youth and beauty and pies and doughnuts, and paddle up some obscure creek to land on a grassy lawn. They were not to wear themselves out with a long summer day's laborious frolicking, under the impression that it was fun. Instead, they were to sail away in a great steamship with flags flying and cannon pealing, and take a royal holiday beyond the broad ocean, in many a strange climate and in many a land renowned in history! They were to sail for months over the breezy Atlantic and the sunny Mediterranean. They were to scamper about the decks by day, filling the ship with shouts and laughter. Or they would read novels and poetry in the shade of the smokestacks, or watch over the side for the jellyfish and the nautilus, and the shark, the whale, and other strange monsters of the deep. And at night they were to dance in the open air, on the upper deck, in the midst of a ballroom that stretched from horizon to horizon. It was domed by the bending heavens and lighted by no meaner lamps than the stars and the magnificent moon. There they would dance, and promenade, and smoke, and sing, and make love, and search the skies for constellations that never keep company with the Big Dipper they were so tired of. And they were to see the ships of twenty navies, the customs and costumes of twenty curious peoples, the great cities of half a world. They were to hobnob with nobility and hold friendly talk with kings and princes, Grand Moguls, and the anointed lords of mighty empires!

There is as yet no certain way in which a single case of “Spanish influenza ” can be recognized; on the other hand, recognition is easy where there is a group of cases. In contrast to the outbreaks of ordinary coughs and colds, which usually occur in the cold months, epidemics of influenza may occur at any season of the year, thus the present epidemic raged most intensely in Europe in May, June, and July. Moreover, in the case of ordinary colds, the general symptoms (fever, pain, depression) are by no means as severe or as sudden in their onset as they are in influenza. Finally, ordinary colds do not spread through the community so rapidly or so extensively as does influenza.

There is as yet no certain way in which a single case of “Spanish influenza” can be recognized; on the other hand, recognition is easy where there is a group of cases. In contrast to the outbreaks of ordinary coughs and colds, which usually occur in the cold months, epidemics of influenza may occur at any season of the year; thus the present epidemic raged most intensely in Europe in May, June, and July. Moreover, in the case of ordinary colds, the general symptoms (fever, pain, depression) are by no means as severe or as sudden in their onset as they are in influenza. Finally, ordinary colds do not spread through the community so rapidly or so extensively as does influenza.

In August, 1918, Colonels F. F. Russell, William H. Welch, Rufus Cole and I made an inspection trip through the camps in the Southern States. With the memory of the visit to Asheville, North Carolina, in 1898, in mind, I proposed that we stop in that region for a few days, which we did. But there I contracted a most severe coryza. We reached Washington one Sunday morning and I went directly to the Surgeon General’s office, where General Richard was officiating, as General Gorgas was in Europe. Scarcely looking up from his papers the general said, as I entered the door: "You will proceed immediately to Devens. The Spanish influenza has struck that camp." Then, laying aside his papers and looking into my suffused eyes, he said: "No, you will go home and go to bed." I took the next train for Camp Devens and arrived early the next morning. I am not going into the history of the influenza epidemic. It encircled the world, visited the remotest corners, taking toll of the most robust, sparing neither soldier nor civilian, and flaunting its red flag in the face of science.

In August 1918, Colonels F. F. Russell, William H. Welch, Rufus Cole and I made an inspection trip through the camps in the Southern States. With the memory of the visit to Asheville, North Carolina, in 1898 in mind, I proposed that we stop in that region for a few days, which we did. But there I contracted a most severe coryza. We reached Washington one Sunday morning, and I went directly to the Surgeon General’s office, where General Richard was officiating, as General Gorgas was in Europe. Scarcely looking up from his papers, the general said, as I entered the door: “You will proceed immediately to Devens. The Spanish influenza has struck that camp.” Then, laying aside his papers and looking into my suffused eyes, he said: “No, you will go home and go to bed.” I took the next train for Camp Devens and arrived early the next morning. I am not going into the history of the influenza epidemic. It encircled the world, visited the remotest corners, taking toll of the most robust, sparing neither soldier nor civilian, and flaunting its red flag in the face of science.