n, who had been my assistant in
Malacca and Borneo, again joined me on agreement for three years; and as
soon as I got tolerably well, we had plenty to do laying in stores and
making arrangements for our ensuing campaign. Our greatest difficulty
was in obtaining men, but at last we succeeded in getting two each. An
Amboyna Christian named Theodorus Watakena, who had been some time with
me and had learned to skin birds very well, agreed to go with Allen,
as well as a very quiet and industrious lad named Cornelius, whom I
had brought from Menado. I had two Amboynese, named Petrus Rehatta, and
Mesach Matahena; the latter of whom had two brothers, named respectively
Shadrach and Abednego, in accordance with the usual custom among these
people of giving only Scripture names to their children.

During the time I resided in this place, I enjoyed a luxury I have never
met with either before or since--the true bread-fruit. A good deal of it
has been planted about here and in the surrounding villages, and almost
everyday we had opportunities of purchasing some, as all the boats going
to Amboyna were unloaded just opposite my door to be dragged across the
isthmus. Though it grows in several other parts of the Archipelago, it
is nowhere abundant, and the season for it only lasts a short time. It
is baked entire in the hot embers, and the inside scooped out with a
spoon. I compared it to Yorkshire pudding; Charles Allen said it was
like mashed potatoes and milk. It is generally about the size of a
melon, a little fibrous towards the centre, but everywhere else quite
smooth and puddingy, something in consistence between yeast-dumplings
and batter-pudding. We sometimes made curry or stew of it, or fried it
in slices; but it is no way so good as simply baked. It may be eaten
sweet or savory. With meat and gravy it is a vegetable superior to any
I know, either in temperate or tropical countries. With sugar, milk,
butter, or treacle, it is a delicious pudding, having a very slight and
delicate but characteristic flavour, which, like that of good bread and
potatoes, one never gets tired of. The reason why it is comparatively
scarce is that it is a fruit of which the seeds are entirely aborted by
cultivation, and the tree can therefore only be propagated by cuttings.
The seed-bearing variety is common all over the tropics, and though the
seeds are very good eating, resembling chestnuts, the fruit is quite
worthless as a vegetable. Now that