ping
purslain, mint, scurvy-grass, and sorrel; all which, together with the
fresh meats of the place, we devoured with great eagerness, prompted
thereto by the strong inclination which nature never fails of exciting
in scorbutic disorders for these powerful specifics. It will easily be
conceived from what hath been already said, that our cheer upon this
island was in some degree luxurious, but I have not yet recited all the
varieties of provision which we here indulged in. Indeed we thought it
prudent totally to abstain from fish, the few we caught at our first
arrival having surfeited those who eat of them; but considering how much
we had been inured to that species of food, we did not regard this
circumstance as a disadvantage, especially as the defect was so amply
supplied by the beef, pork, and fowls already mentioned, and by great
plenty of wild fowl; for I must observe, that near the centre of the
island there were two considerable pieces of fresh water, which abounded
with duck, teal, and curlew: Not to mention the whistling plover, which
we found there in prodigious plenty."

"And now perhaps it may be wondered at, that an island so exquisitely
furnished with the conveniences of life, and so well adapted, not only
to the subsistence, but likewise to the enjoyment of mankind, should be
entirely destitute of inhabitants, especially as it is in the
neighbourhood of other islands, which in some measure depend upon this
for their support. To obviate this difficulty, I must observe, that it
is not fifty years since the island was depopulated. The Indians we had
in our custody assured us, that formerly the three islands of Tinian,
Rota, and Guam, were all full of inhabitants; and that Tinian alone
contained thirty thousand souls: But a sickness raging amongst these
islands, which destroyed multitudes of the people, the Spaniards, to
recruit their numbers at Guam, which were greatly diminished by this
mortality, ordered all the inhabitants of Tinian thither; where,
languishing for their former habitations, and their customary method of
life, the greatest part of them in a few years died of grief. Indeed,
independent of that attachment which all mankind have ever shown to the
places of their birth and bringing up, it should seem from what has been
already said, that there were few countries more worthy to be regretted
than this of Tinian."

"These poor Indians might reasonably have expected, at the great
distance from