t this time Cook was getting rather short of water, so
he set the still to work, and obtained from "13 to 16 gallons of fresh
water" between 6 A.M. and 4 P.M. "There has lately been made some
IMPROVEMENT, as they are pleased to call it, to this machine, which in my
opinion is much for the worse." Falling in with repeated thunderstorms in
which they caught more water in an hour "than by the still in a month, I
laid it a side as a thing attended with more trouble than profit."

At one of the Palmerston Group they found, amongst other things drifted
over the reef, some planks, one of which was very thick, with trunnell
holes in it, and a piece of moulding from some ship's upper works,
painted yellow, with nail holes showing signs of iron rust: probably the
remains of some wrecked European ship. At Comango, where they anchored on
28th April, Cook notes:

"It was remarkable that during the whole day the Indians would hardly
part with any one thing to anybody but me; Captain Clerke did not get
above one or two hogs."

A supply of water was obtained and wood was cut, but most of the trees
were what Cook calls Manchineel, the sap from which produced blisters on
the men's skin, and Burney says some of them were blind for a fortnight,
having rubbed their faces with their juice-stained hands. One of the
carpenters had a bad fall and broke his leg, but for the rest, says
Burney, they were "in good health; thank God, no appearance of scurvy."

FLOGGING NO GOOD.

Cook again complains of the thefts committed so continually, and says
that no punishment they could devise was effectual, for "flogging made no
more impression than it would have done upon the mainmast." The chiefs
would advise him to kill those caught, but as he would not proceed to
such a length the culprits generally escaped unpunished. Here the
Discovery lost her best bower anchor, the cable having been chafed by the
coral and parted when weighing; Burney describes how by pouring oil on
the water they were able to see and recover it from a depth of seventeen
fathoms. Landing on Happi they were very well received, and obtained
plentiful supplies of fresh food, which was most opportune. An
entertainment of boxing, wrestling, and combats with clubs made from
green coconut boughs was held in their honour; and Cook says that they
were carried on with the greatest good-humour in the presence of some
three thousand spectators, "though some, women as well as men, have
recei