Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/127

Rh has something in it that puts me in mind of the scurvy, I took up the lemon-juice put up by Dr. Hulme's direction, and found that that which was concentrated by evaporating six gallons into less than two has kept as well as anything could do. The small cag, in which was lemon-juice with one-fifth of brandy, was also very good, though a large part of it had leaked out by some fault in the cag: this, therefore, I began to make use of immediately, drinking very weak punch made with it for my common liquor.

4th. At ten this morning my servant, Peter Briscoe, saw land which we had almost passed by; we stood towards it, and found it to be a small island (Lagoon Island) about a mile and a half or two miles in length; those who were upon the topmast-head perceived it to be nearly circular, and to have a lagoon or pool of water in the middle, which occupied by far the largest part of the island. About noon we were close to it, within a mile or thereabouts, and distinctly saw inhabitants, of whom we counted twenty-four; they appeared to us through our glasses to be tall and to have very large heads, or possibly much hair upon them; eleven of them walked along the beach abreast of the ship, each with a pole or pike as long again as himself in his hand. Every one of them was stark naked, and appeared of a brown copper colour; as soon, however, as the ship had fairly passed the island they retired higher up on the beach and seemed to put on some clothes, or at least cover themselves with something which made them appear of a light colour.

The island was covered with trees of many different verdures: the palms or cocoanut trees we could plainly distinguish, particularly two that were amazingly taller than their fellows, and at a distance bore a great resemblance to flags. The land seemed very low; though at a distance several parts of it had appeared high, yet when we came near them they proved to be clumps of palms. Under the shade of these were the houses of the natives, in spots cleared of all underwood, so that pleasanter groves cannot be imagined, at least so they appeared to us, whose eyes had so long been unused to any other object than water and sky.