requent showers which fall, and which, though of a
very short and almost momentary duration, are extremely grateful and
refreshing, and are perhaps one cause of the salubrity of the air, and
of the extraordinary influence it was observed to have upon us, in
increasing and invigorating our appetites and digestion. This was so
remarkable, that those amongst our officers, who were at all other times
spare and temperate eaters, who, besides a slight breakfast, made but
one moderate repast a day, were here, in appearance, transformed into
gluttons; for instead of one reasonable flesh meal, they were now
scarcely satisfied with three, and each of them so prodigious in
quantity, as would at another time have produced a fever or a surfeit:
And yet our digestion so well corresponded with the keenness of our
appetites, that we were neither disordered nor even loaded by this
repletion; for after having, according to the custom of the island, made
a large beef breakfast, it was not long before we began to consider the
approach of dinner as a very desirable, though somewhat tardy incident."

"And now having been thus large in my encomiums on this island, in
which, however, I conceive I have not done it justice, it is necessary I
should speak of those circumstances in which it is defective, whether in
point of beauty or utility."

"And first, with respect to its water. I must own, that before I had
seen this spot, I did not conceive that the absence of running water, of
which it is entirely destitute, could have been so well replaced by any
other means, as it is in this island; for though there are no streams,
yet the water of the wells and springs, which are to be met with every
where near the surface, is extremely good; and in the midst of the
island there are two or three considerable pieces of excellent water,
whose edges are as neat and even, as if they had been basons purposely
made for the decoration of the place. It must, however, be confessed,
that with regard to the beauty of the prospects, the want of rills and
streams is a very great defect, not to be compensated either by large
pieces of standing water, or by the neighbourhood of the sea, though
that; by reason of the smallness of the island, generally makes a part
of every extensive view."

"As to the residence upon the island, the principal inconvenience
attending it is the vast numbers of musquitoes, and various other
species of flies, together with an insect called