oaober Notwithftanding this, fo improvident a creature is an Eng-
t.— .— -j liih failor, that they were as profufe in m akin g their bargains,
as i f w e had now arrived at a port in V irg in ia ; by
which means, in lefs’ than eight and forty hours, the value
o f this article o f barter was lowered above a thoufand
per cent,
Saturday 3. At one o’clock in the afternoon o f the 3d, we anchored
in Samganoodha Harbour ; and the next morning, the carpenters
o f both ihips were fet to work to rip o ff the fheath-
in g o f and under the wale, on the ftarboard fide abaft.
Many o f the feams were found quite open ; fo that it was
110 wonder that fo much water had found its way into the
fhip. While we la y here, w e cleared the fiih and fpirit
rooms, and the after-hold ; difpofing things in fuch a manner,
that in cafe w e fhould happen to have any more leaks
o f the fame nature, the water might find its way to the
pumps. And befides this work, and completing our water,
w e cleared the fore-hold to the very bottom, and took in a
quantity o f ballaft.
T h e vegetables w hich we had met with, when we were
here before, were now moftly in a ftate o f decay ; fo that
w e were but little benefited by the great quantities o f ber-
. ries every where found aihore. In order to avail ourfelves
as much as poflible o f this u fe fu l refreihment, one-third
o f the people, by turns, had leave to go and pick them.
Confiderable quantities o f them were alfo procured from the
natives. . I f there were any feeds o f the fcurvy, in either
fhip, thefe berries, and the ufe o f fpruce beer, which
they had to drink every other day, e ffed u a lly eradicated
them.
We
We alfo got plenty o f fifh; at firft, moftly falmon, both
frefh and dried, w hich the natives brought us. Some o f
the frefh falmon was in high perfection ; but there was one
fort, which we called hook-nofed, from the figure o f its
head, that was but indifferent. We drew the feine feveral
times, at the head o f the b a y ; and caught a good many
falmon trout, and once a halibut that weighed two hundred
and fifty-four pounds. The fifhery failing, we had recourfe
to hooks and lines. A boat was fent out every morning, j
and feldom returned without eight or ten h a lib u t; which
was more than fufficient to ferve all our people. The h a libut
were excellent, and there were few who did not prefer
them to falmon. Thus we not only procured a fupply o f fifh
for prefent confumption, but had fome to carry with us to fea.
This enabled us to. make a confiderable faving o f our pro-
vifions, w hich was an obj cci o f no fmall importance.
On the 8th, I received by the hands o f an Oonalafhka TWdays.
man, named Derramouihk, a very lingular prefent, con-
fidering the place. It was a rye loaf, or rather a pye made
in the form o f a loaf, for it inclofed fome falmon, h ig h ly «
feafoned with pepper. This man had the like prefent for
Captain Clerke, and a note fo r each o f us, written in a character
which none o f us could read. It was natural to fup-
pofe, that this prefent was from fome Ruffians now in ou r
neighbourhood; and therefore we fent, by the fame hand,
to thefe our unknown friends, a few bottles o f rum, wine,
and porter; which we thought would be as acceptable as.
any thing we had befides; and we foon kn ew , that in this-
w e had not been miftaken. I alfo fent along with Derramouihk,
Corporal Lediard o f the marines, an intelligent
man, in order to gain fome farther information, with orders,
that i f he met with any Ruffians, he fhould endeavour
to