A Voyage to the South Sea (Autobiography). William Bligh
liberty (notwithstanding former orders) to proceed in her to Otaheite, round the Cape of Good Hope.
Given under our hands the 18th December 1787.
HOWE,
CHARLES BRETT,
BAYHAM.
To Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding His Majesty's armed vessel Bounty, Spithead.
By command of their Lordships,
P. Stephens.
The Breadfruit is so well known and described that to attempt a new account of it would be unnecessary and useless. However as it may contribute to the convenience of the reader I have given the following extracts respecting it with the plate annexed.
Extract from the Account of Dampier's Voyage Round the World Performed in 1688.
The breadfruit (as we call it) grows on a large tree, as big and high as our largest apple-trees: It hath a spreading head, full of branches and dark leaves. The fruit grows on the boughs like apples; it is as big as a penny-loaf when wheat is at five shillings the bushel; it is of a round shape, and hath a thick tough rind. When the fruit is ripe it is yellow and soft, and the taste is sweet and pleasant. The natives of Guam use it for bread. They gather it, when full-grown, while it is green and hard; then they bake it in an oven, which scorches the rind and makes it black; but they scrape off the outside black crust, and there remains a tender thin crust; and the inside is soft, tender, and white like the crumb of a penny-loaf. There is NEITHER SEED NOR STONE in the inside, but all is of a pure substance, like bread. It must be eaten new; for, if it is kept above twenty-four hours, it grows harsh and choaky; but it is very pleasant before it is too stale. This fruit lasts in season EIGHT MONTHS in the year, during which the natives eat NO OTHER SORT OF FOOD OF BREAD KIND. I did never see of this fruit anywhere but here. The natives told us that there is plenty of this fruit growing on the rest of the Ladrone islands; and I DID NEVER HEAR OF IT ANYWHERE ELSE. Volume 1 page 296.
Extract from the Account of Lord Anson's Voyage, Published by Mr. Walter.
There was at Tinian a kind of fruit, peculiar to these (Ladrone) islands, called by the Indians rhymay, but by us the breadfruit; for it was constantly eaten by us, during our stay upon the island, * instead of bread; and so UNIVERSALLY PREFERRED that no ship's bread was expended in that whole interval. It grew upon a tree which is somewhat lofty, and which towards the top divides into large and spreading branches. The leaves of this tree are of a remarkable deep green, are notched about the edges, and are generally from a foot to eighteen inches in length. The fruit itself is found indifferently on all parts of the branches; it is in shape rather elliptical than round; it is covered with a tough rind and is usually seven or eight inches long; each of them grows singly and not in clusters. This fruit is fittest to be used when it is full-grown but still green; in which state, after it is properly prepared by being roasted in the embers, its taste has some distant resemblance to that of an artichoke's bottom, and its texture is not very different, for it is soft and spongy.
(*Footnote. About two months, namely from the latter end of August to the latter end of October, 1742.)
Extracts from the Account of the First Voyage of Captain Cook. Hawkesworth, Vol. 2.
IN THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.
The breadfruit grows on a tree that is about the size of a middling oak; its leaves are frequently a foot and a half long, of an oblong shape, deeply sinuated like those of the fig-tree, which they resemble in consistence and colour, and in the exuding of a white milky juice upon being broken. The fruit is about the size and shape of a child's head, and the surface is reticulated not much unlike a truffle: it is covered with a thin skin, and has a core about as big as the handle of a small knife. The eatable part lies between the skin and the core; it is as white as snow, and somewhat of the consistence of new bread: it must be roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into three or four parts. Its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke.
Pages 80, 81. See also the plate there and at page 232.
Of the many vegetables that have been mentioned already as serving them for food, the principal is the breadfruit, to procure which costs them no trouble or labour but climbing a tree. The tree which produces it does not indeed shoot up spontaneously, but if a man plants ten of them in his lifetime, which he may do in about an hour, he will as completely fulfil his duty to his own and future generations as the native of our less temperate climate can do by ploughing in the cold winter, and reaping in the summer's heat, as often as these seasons return; even if, after he has procured bread for his present household, he should convert a surplus into money, and lay it up for his children.
It is true indeed that the breadfruit is not always in season; but coconuts, bananas, plantains, and a great variety of other fruits supply the deficiency. Page 197.
Extract from the Account of Captain Cook'S Last Voyage.
IN THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.
I (Captain Cook) have inquired very carefully into their manner of cultivating the breadfruit tree at Otaheite; but was always answered that they never planted it. This indeed must be evident to everyone who will examine the places where the young trees come up. It will be always observed that they spring from the roots of the old ones which run along near the surface of the ground. So that the breadfruit trees may be reckoned those that would naturally cover the plains, even supposing that the island was not inhabited, in the same manner that the white-barked trees, found at Van Diemen's Land, constitute the forests there. And from this we may observe that the inhabitant of Otaheite, instead of being obliged to plant his bread, will RATHER be under the necessity of preventing its progress; which I suppose is sometimes done to give room for trees of another sort, to afford him some variety in his food. Volume 2 page 145.
IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
The breadfruit trees are planted, and flourish with great luxuriance, on rising grounds. Where the hills rise almost perpendicularly in a great variety of peaked forms, their steep sides and the deep chasms between them are covered with trees, amongst which those of the breadfruit were observed particularly to abound. Volume 3 pages 105 and 114, containing Captain King's Narrative.
The climate of the Sandwich Islands differs very little from that of the West India Islands, which lie IN THE SAME LATITUDE. Upon the whole perhaps it may be rather more temperate. Captain King ib page 116.
The breadfruit trees thrive in these islands, not in such abundance, but produce double the quantity of fruit they do on the rich plains of Otaheite. The trees are nearly of the same height, but the branches begin to strike out from the trunk much lower, and with greater luxuriance. Captain King ib page 120.
CHAPTER 2.
Departure from England. Arrival at Tenerife.
Sail from thence.
Arrival off Cape Horn.
Severity of the Weather.
Obliged to bear away for the Cape of Good Hope.
1787. December. Sunday 23.
On Sunday morning the 23rd of December 1787 we sailed from Spithead and, passing through the Needles, directed our course down channel with a fresh gale of wind at east. In the afternoon one of the seamen, in furling the main-top-gallant-sail, fell off the yard and was so fortunate as to save himself by catching hold of the main-top-mast-stay in his fall. At night the wind increased to a strong gale with a heavy sea.
Tuesday 25.
It moderated however on the 25th and allowed us to keep our Christmas with cheerfulness; but the following day it blew a severe storm of wind from the