Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/449

] dishonestly withheld the most juicy pieces of the beef, and had substituted the same weight of the bony and tendinous parts.

The young shoots of the bamboo, cut into slices, and preserved in vinegar, are excellent pickles, in a long voyage, and we provided abundance of them. Those young shoots are generally very tender, if care be taken to gather them in proper time. They are sold in the market as pulse, for which they are a good substitute. They are often above three feet in length, and considerably more than an inch in thickness.

We also furnished ourselves with cloves and nutmegs, preserved in sugar. The rind of the nutmeg is the only part fit for this purpose; and unfortunately the blundering confectioners had chosen such as were too far advanced, as were also the cloves, which, having reached the size of middling olives, had acquired too much of the aromatic flavour to form an agreeable preserve. A man must have an Indian palace, who wishes to enjoy those delicacies. I may say the same thing of the preserved ginger, with which we were provided.

Our store of sago was by far too great; for we used only a small part of it. Our people never could reconcile themselves to that food, wholesome as it was; and, notwithstanding all the ar- guments