splayed to more advantage than in the
delineation of the two groups of figures which at this time presented
themselves to each other. An indifferent spectator (if such could be
found) would have been at a loss which most to admire, the eyes of
famine sparkling at immediate relief, or the horror of their preservers
at the sight of so many spectres, whose ghastly countenances, if the
cause had been unknown, would rather have excited terror than pity. Our
bodies were nothing but skin and bones, our limbs were full of sores,
and we were clothed in rags, in this condition, with the tears of joy
and gratitude flowing down our cheeks, the people of Timor beheld us
with a mixture of horror, surprise, and pity.

'When,' continues the commander, 'I reflect how providentially our lives
were saved at Tofoa, by the Indians delaying their attack? and that,
with scarcely anything to support life, we crossed a sea of more than
twelve hundred leagues, without shelter from the inclemency of the
weather; when I reflect that in an open boat, with so much stormy
weather, we escaped foundering, that not any of us were taken off by
disease, that we had the great good fortune to pass the unfriendly
natives of other countries without accident, and at last to meet with
the most friendly and best of people to relieve our distresses--I say,
when I reflect on all these wonderful escapes, the remembrance of such
great mercies enables me to bear with resignation and cheerfulness the
failure of an expedition, the success of which I had so much at heart,
and which was frustrated at a time when I was congratulating myself on
the fairest prospect of being able to complete it in a manner that would
fully have answered the intention of his Majesty, and the humane
promoters of so benevolent a plan.'

Having recruited their strength by a residence of two months among the
friendly inhabitants of Coupang, they proceeded to the westward on the
20th August in a small schooner, which was purchased and armed for the
purpose, and arrived on the 1st October in Batavia Road, where Mr. Bligh
embarked in a Dutch packet, and was landed on the Isle of Wight on the
14th March, 1790. The rest of the people had passages provided for them
in ships of the Dutch East India Company, then about to sail for Europe.
All of them, however, did not survive to reach England. Nelson, the
botanist, died at Coupang; Mr. Elphinstone, master's-mate, Peter
Linkletter and Thomas Hall, seame