tender thin crust; and the
inside is soft, tender, and white, like the crumb of a penny-loaf. There
is neither seed nor stone in the inside, but all is of a pure substance
like bread. It must be eaten new; for if it is kept above twenty-four
hours, it grows harsh and choaky; but it is very pleasant before it is
too stale. This fruit lasts in season eight months in the year, during
which the natives eat no other sort of food of bread kind. I did never
see of this fruit anywhere but here. The natives told us that there is
plenty of this fruit growing on the rest of the Ladrone Islands; and I
did never hear of it anywhere else.'

Lord Anson corroborates this account of the bread-fruit, and says that,
while at Tinian, it was constantly eaten by his officers and ship's
company during their two months' stay, instead of bread; and so
universally preferred, that no ship's bread was expended in that whole
interval. The only essential difference between Dampier's and Cook's
description is, where the latter says, which is true, that this fruit
has a _core_, and that the eatable part lies between the skin and the
core. Cook says also that its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness,
somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread mixed with a
Jerusalem artichoke. From such a description, it is not surprising that
the West India planters should have felt desirous of introducing it into
those islands; and accordingly the introduction of it was subsequently
accomplished, notwithstanding the failure of the present voyage; it has
not, however, been found to answer the expectation that had reasonably
been entertained. The climate, as to latitude, ought to be the same, or
nearly so, as that of Otaheite, but there would appear to be some
difference in the situation or nature of the soil, that prevents it from
thriving in the West India Islands. At Otaheite and on several of the
Pacific Islands,

The bread-tree, which, without the ploughshare yields,
The unreap'd harvest of unfurrow'd fields,
And bakes its unadulterated loaves
Without a furnace in unpurchased groves,
And flings off famine from its fertile breast,
A priceless market for the gathering guest--

is to the natives of those islands a most invaluable gift, but it has
not been found to yield similar benefits to the West India Islands.

On the 23rd December, 1787, the _Bounty_ sailed from Spithead, and on
the 26th it blew a severe storm o