I had so carefully saved became of real use. I gave it in very
small quantities with some pieces of bread soaked in it; and he soon
began to recover. The boatswain and carpenter also were ill and
complained of headache and sickness of the stomach. Others who had not
had any evacuation by stool became shockingly distressed with the
tenesmus so that there were but few without complaints. An idea prevailed
that the sickness of the boatswain and carpenter was occasioned by eating
the dolichos. Myself however and some others who had taken the same food
felt no inconvenience; but the truth was that many of the people had
eaten a large quantity of them raw, and Nelson informed me that they were
constantly teasing him whenever a berry was found to know if it was good
to eat; so that it would not have been surprising if many of them had
been really poisoned.

Our dinner was not so well relished as at Sunday Island because we had
mixed the dolichos with our stew. The oysters and soup however were eaten
by everyone except Nelson whom I fed with a few small pieces of bread
soaked in half a glass of wine, and he continued to mend.

In my walk round the island I found several coconut shells, the remains
of an old wigwam, and the backs of two turtless, but no sign of any
quadruped. One of the people found three seafowl's eggs.

As is common on such spots the soil is little other than sand, yet it
produced small toa-trees and some others that we were not acquainted
with. There were fish in the lagoon, but we could not catch any. Our
wants therefore were not likely to be supplied here, not even with water
for our daily expense: nevertheless I determined to wait till the
morning, that we might try our success in the night for turtle and birds.
A quiet night's rest also, I conceived, would be of essential service to
those who were unwell.

The wigwam and turtle shell were proofs that the natives at times visited
this place, and that they had canoes the remains of the large canoe that
we saw at Sunday Island left no room to doubt: but I did not apprehend
that we ran any risk by remaining here a short time. I directed our fire
however to be made in the thicket that we might not be discovered by its
light.

At noon I observed the latitude of this island to be 11 degrees 47
minutes south. The mainland extended towards the north-west and was full
of white sandhills: another small island lay within us, bearing west by
north one quarter nor