te allowance, their minds were a little quieted. The others
however became equally alarmed in their turn, dreading that such symptoms
would come on, and that they were all poisoned, so that they regarded
each other with the strongest marks of apprehension, uncertain what would
be the issue of their imprudence. Fortunately the fruit proved wholesome
and good. One sort grew on a small delicate kind of vine; they were the
size of a large gooseberry and very like in substance, but had only a
sweet taste; the skin was a pale red, streaked with yellow the long way
of the fruit: it was pleasant and agreeable. Another kind grew on bushes
like that which is called the seaside grape in the West Indies, but the
fruit was very different, being more like elderberries, and grew in
clusters in the same manner. The third sort was a blackberry; this was
not in such plenty as the others and resembled a bullace, or large kind
of sloe, both in size and taste. When I saw that these fruits were eaten
by the birds I no longer doubted of their being wholesome, and those who
had already tried the experiment, not finding any bad effect, made it a
certainty that we might eat of them without danger.

Wild pigeons, parrots, and other birds were about the summit of the
island but, having no firearms, relief of that kind was not to be
expected unless we should find some unfrequented spot where the birds
were so tame that we might take them with our hands.

The shore of this island is very rocky except the place at which we
landed, and here I picked up many pieces of pumice-stone. On the part of
the main nearest to us were several sandy bays which at low water became
an extensive rocky flat. The country had rather a barren appearance
except in a few places where it was covered with wood. A remarkable range
of rocks lay a few miles to the south-west, and a high peaked hill seemed
to terminate the coast towards the sea, with islands to the southward. A
high fair cape showed the direction of the coast to the north-west about
seven leagues distant; and two small isles lay three or four leagues to
the northward of our present station.

I saw a few bees or wasps and several lizards; and the blackberry bushes
were full of ants nests, webbed like a spider's but so close and compact
as not to admit the rain. A trunk of a tree about 50 feet long lay on the
beach, from which I conclude that a heavy sea sets in here with a
northerly wind.

This day being the a