t. The Dutch are a very rude
sort of people; I related the Etna passage to the officers, exactly as I
have done to you, and some of them, particularly the Captain, seemed by
his grimace and half-sentence to doubt my veracity; however, as he had
kindly taken me on board his vessel, and was then in the very act of
administering to my necessities, I pocketed the affront.

I now in my turn began to inquire where they were bound? To which they
answered, they were in search of new discoveries; "_and if_," said they,
"_your story is true, a new passage is really discovered, and we shall
not return disappointed_." We were now exactly in Captain Cook's first
track, and arrived the next morning in Botany Bay. This place I would by
no means recommend to the English government as a receptacle for felons,
or place of punishment; it should rather be the reward of merit, nature
having most bountifully bestowed her best gifts upon it.

We stayed here but three days; the fourth after our departure a most
dreadful storm arose, which in a few hours destroyed all our sails,
splintered our bowsprit, and brought down our topmast; it fell directly
upon the box that enclosed our compass, which, with the compass, was
broken to pieces. Every one who has been at sea knows the consequences
of such a misfortune: we now were at a loss where to steer. At length
the storm abated, which was followed by a steady, brisk gale, that
carried us at least forty knots an hour for six months! [we should
suppose the Baron has made a little mistake, and substituted _months_
for _days_] when we began to observe an amazing change in everything
about us: our spirits became light, our noses were regaled with the most
aromatic effluvia imaginable: the sea had also changed its complexion,
and from green became white!! Soon after these wonderful alterations
we saw land, and not at any great distance an inlet, which we sailed up
near sixty leagues, and found it wide and deep, flowing with milk of the
most delicious taste. Here we landed, and soon found it was an island
consisting of one large cheese: we discovered this by one of the company
fainting away as soon as we landed: this man always had an aversion to
cheese; when he recovered, he desired the cheese to be taken from under
his feet: upon examination we found him perfectly right, for the
whole island, as before observed, was nothing but a cheese of immense
magnitude! Upon this the inhabitants, who are amazingly nu