This Island, However, Might Maintain A Good Many
People, And Is Capable Of Being Made So Strong That They Could Not Be
Easily Dislodged.
We got our smith's forge ashore on the 3d February, and set our coopers
to work to repair our water casks.
They made a little tent also for me
on shore, to enjoy the benefit of the land air. The two ships also set
up tents for their sick, so that we had presently a kind of small town,
in which all who were able were busily employed. A few men supplied us
with excellent fish, in such abundance that they could take as many in a
few hours as would serve 200 men for a meal. There were some sea-fowl in
the bay, as large as geese, but they eat fishy. The governor, for so we
called Mr Selkirk, never failed to procure us two or three goats every
day for our sick men, by which, with the help of cabbages and other
vegetables, and the wholesome air, our men soon recovered from the
scurvy, and we found this island exceedingly agreeable, the weather
being neither too hot nor too cold. We spent our time till the 10th in
refitting our ships, taking wood on board, and laying in a stock of
water, that which we brought from England, St Vincents, and Isla Grande,
being spoilt by the badness of our casks. We also boiled up and refined
eighty gallons of oil of sea-lions, which we used in lamps to save
candles, and might have prepared several tons, if we had been provided
with vessels.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 566 of 825
Words from 153719 to 153990
of 224764
