Hospital tents were also without delay erected, for which there was soon but too much occasion.

In the passage from the Cape there had been but little sickness, nor had many died even among the convicts; but soon after landing, a dysentery prevailed, which in several instances proved fatal, and the scurvy began to rage with a virulence which kept the hospital tents generally supplied with patients.

For those afflicted with this disorder, the advantage of fish or other fresh provisions could but rarely be procured; nor were esculent vegetables often obtained in sufficient plenty to produce any material alleviation of the complaint.
In the dysentery, the red gum of the tree which principally abounds on this coast, was found a very powerful remedy.

The yellow gum has been discovered to possess the same property, but in an inferior degree.
The tree which yields the former kind of gum is very considerable in size, and grows to a great height before it puts out any branches.

The red gum is usually compared to that called sanguis draconis, but differs from it by being perfectly soluble in water, whereas the other, being more properly a resin, will not dissolve except in spirits of wine.