John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

29. III.45. A poor fellow named John one of the Servants of the house where we lodge was dismissed yesterday for some carelessness, and left the house— The heat of the weather tempted him to bathe in one of the Rivers, and not knowing how to swim he was drowned.— The thermometer was at 80 the whole Night—the heat so oppressive and the moschitos so voracious that I lost the Night’s rest almost entirely. Between 4 and 5 this morning I went out and after much seeking, found a place near that shewn me last Evening by Mr Gallatin, where I bathed in the Lys. I have determined 126during the warm weather to make the experiment of cold-bathing, for the relief of the increasing agitation of my hand which already makes writing so painful to me— I was out two hours— The remainder of the day I was engaged in writing, and reading part of the American Newspapers lately received— In the Evening I took a second long walk—