37o C A P T A I N C A R T E R E T ’ S V O Y A G E
1767- bage Is a 'white, crifp, juicy fubftance, which, eaten raw,
. Augult‘ , tailes fomewhat like a chefnut, but when boiled is fuperior
to the beft parfnip; we cut it fmall into the broth that we
made of our portable foup, which was afterwards thickened
with oatmeal, and made a moft comfortable mefs: for each
o f thefe cabbages however we were forced to cut down a
tree, and it was with great regret that we deftroyed, in
the parent flock, fo much fruit, which perhaps is the moft
powerful antifcorbutic in the world ; but neceffity has no
law. This fupply o f frefli vegetables, and efpecially the
milk, or rather the water of the nut, recovered our lick very
fall. They alfo received great benefit and pleafure from the
fruit of a tall tree, that refembles a plum-, and particularly
that which in the Weft Indies is ealled the Jamaica plum ;
our men gave it the fame n am e ; it has a pleafant tartilh:
tafte, but is a little woody probably only for want o f culture
: thefe plums were not plenty, fo that having the two
qualities o f a dainty, fcarcity and excellence, it is no wonder
that they were held in the higheft eftimation.
The fhore about this place is rocky, and the country high
and mountainous, but covered with trees of various kinds,
fome of which are o f an enormous growth, and probably
would be ufeful for many purpofes. Among, others, we
found the nutmeg tree in great plenty, and I gathered“ a few
of the nuts, but they were not ripe : they did not indeed appear
to be the beft fort, but perhaps that is owing partly to
their growing wild, and partly to. their being too much in-
the fhade of taller trees. The cocoa-nut tree is in great perfection,
but does not abound. Here are, I believe, all the
different- kinds o f palm, with the beetle-nut tree, various
fpecies of the aloe, canes, bamboos, and rattans* with many
trees,, fhrubs and plants altogether unknown to m e ; but no
■ ' efculenr
efculent vegetable o f any kind. The woods abound with
pigeons, doves, rooks, parrots, and a large bird with black
plumage, that makes a noife fomewhat like the barking of
a d o g ; with many others which I can neither name nor de-
fcribe. Our people faw mo quadruped but two of a fmall
fize that they took for dogs ; the carpenter and another man
got a tranfient glimpfe o f them in the woods as they were
cutting fpars for the fhip’s ufe, and faid that they were very
wild, and ran away the moment they faw them with great
fwiftnefs. We faw centipieds, fcorpions, and a few ferpents
o f different kinds; but no inhabitants. We fell in however
with feveral deferted habitations, and by the fhells that were
fcattered about them, and Teemed not long to have been
taken out of the water, and fome flicks half burnt, the remains
of a fire, there is reafon to conclude that the people
had but juft left the place when we arrived. I f we may
judge of the people by that which had been their dwelling^
they muft fland low even in the fcale of favage l i f e ; for it
was the moft miferable hovel we had ever feen.
While we lay here, having cleared and lightened the fhip,
we heeled her fo as to come at her leak, which the carpenter
flopped as well as he could; we found the fheathing
greatly decayed, and the bottom much eaten by the worms,
but we payed it as far as we could get at it with a mixture
o f hot pitch and tar boiled together. The carpenter alfo cut
down many fpars, for ftudding-fail booms, having but few
left o f thofe which he had brought from England.
Englifh Cove lies N. E. ^ N. three or four miles from
Wallis’s Ifland; there is a fmall fhoal on the flarboard hand
going in, which will be eafily feen by the fea’s breaking
upon it. The water ebbs and flows once in four and twenty
hours; the flood came in about nine or ten o’clock, and it
3 B 2 was
1 767.
Augult.