1773«
A p r i l .
all the arts of cookery only tended to furfeit the fooner,
for thofe who wifely confined themfelves to plain boiling
in fea water, always did honour to their meals;
As i f increafe o f appetite had grown
B y what it fed on.-------- Shakespeare.
But what was more Angular than all, was, that in order
to prevent any difiike to our food, we confined ourfelves,
among a great variety of different forts, chiefly to one
fpecies of fifties, which our failors from its dark colour,
called the coal-fifti, and which in tafte nearly refembled
our Englifh cod, being of the fame genus. Its meat was
firm, juicy, and nutritive; but not fo rich and fat as that
of many other fpecies, which we found very delicious,
but could not continually feed upon. A very fine fpecies
of crayfiih (cancer bomarus Lin.) larger than the lobfter,
fome fhell-fifti, and now and then a cormorant, duck,
pigeon, or parrot gave us an agreeable variety at our table,
which, compared to its appearance when at fea, was now
luxurious and profufe,
Every perfon in our fioop experienced the good effefts
of this change of diet ; nay every animal on board feemed
to be benefited by it, except our Iheep, which wefe not
likely to fare fo well as ourfelves. The nature of the
country accounts for this difagreeable circumftance. The
whole fouthern extremity of Tavai-poe-namoo, or the
fouthem ifland of New Zeeland, and efpecially the land
about
about Dufky Bay confifts entirely of fteep rocky mountains, ASi,
with craggy precipices, clad with thick forefts, and either
barren or covered with fnow on their fummits. No meadows
and lawns are to be met with, and the only flat land
we found, was fituated at the head of deep coves, where
a brook fell into the fea, which probably by depofiting
the earth and Hones it brought from the hills, had formed
this low and level ground. But even there the whole
was over-run with woods and briars, and we could not
find a fingLe fpot of ground which might have afforded
pafture, the grafs which grew on fome beaches being
very hard and coarfe. However, after we had taken pains
to furnilh our fheep with the frefheft fprouts which we
could meet with, we were furprifed that they would not
touch any of them: but upon examination we found that
their t,eeth were loofe, and that many of them had every
fymptom of an inveterate fea fcurvy. Of four ewes and
two rams which captain Cook brought from the Cape of
Good Hope, with an intent to put them on fhore in New
Zeeland, we had only been able to preferve one of each
fex, and thefe were in fo wretched a condition, that their
further prefervation was very doubtful. If future navigators
mean to make fuch valuable prefents, as cattle of
any fort to the inhabitants, of the South Sea, the only
probable method of bringing them fafely thither, would
be to take the Ihorteft route poflible from the Cape to New
V °Li I. U Zeeland,