The Vegetables And Fruit In The Plantations Around Us Did Not
Suffice For The Wants Of The Inhabitants, And Were Almost Always
Dug Up Or Gathered Before They Were Ripe.
It was very rarely we
could purchase a little fish; fowls there were none; and we were
reduced to live upon tough pigeons and cockatoos, with our rice
and sago, and sometimes we could not get these.
Having been
already eight months on this voyage, my stock of all condiments,
spices and butter, was exhausted, and I found it impossible to
eat sufficient of my tasteless and unpalatable food to support
health. I got very thin and weak, and had a curious disease known
(I have since heard) as brow-ague. Directly after breakfast every
morning an intense pain set in on a small spot on the right
temple. It was a severe burning ache, as bad as the worst
toothache, and lasted about two hours, generally going off at
noon. When this finally ceased, I had an attack of fever, which
left me so weak and so unable to eat our regular food, that I
feel sure my life was saved by a couple of tins of soup which I
had long reserved for some such extremity. I used often to go out
searching after vegetables, and found a great treasure in a lot
of tomato plants run wild, and bearing little fruits about the
size of gooseberries. I also boiled up the tops of pumpkin plants
and of ferns, by way of greens, and occasionally got a few green
papaws.
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