418 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



laa^o; and, after suffering the greatest fatigue, being- 

 exposed to the full action and vicissitudes of the ele- 

 ments, and forced for some time to bear famine, they 

 reached the Dutch settlement of Coupang-,inthe island 

 of Timor, without the loss of one individual by disease ; 

 though they had traversed at least tive thousand mUes 

 of sea. Nay, so ardent was Bligh as a seaman, that, 

 amid all those perils, he was occupied in making 

 some very valuable observations. 



The Dutch governor of Coupang shewed them 

 every attention ; and, from the care that was taken of 

 them, twelve were enabled to return to England. 

 Though the adventure had failed, every body was 

 disposed to bestow all praise on the adventurer ; and 

 he was promoted to the rank of captain, and appointed 

 to the command of his Majesty's ship Providence, 

 in order to repeat the voyage. 



The Providence, with the Assistant, a small ship 

 in company, sailed on the 3d of August, 1791. His 

 instructions were to procure the bread-fruit trees lor 

 the West Indies, and, on his return, to examine the 

 passage between the north of New Holland and New 

 Guinea — which, in his former voyage in the Boxrnty, 

 he had been the first to navigate. 



On the 9th of April, 1792, they reached Otaheite; 

 and, by the 17th of July, they were ready to leave 

 the island, having on board twelve hundred and 

 eighty-one tubs and pots of plants, all in the finest 

 condition. There was no mutiny on this yoyage ; 

 but the passage between New Holland and New 

 Guinea was dangerous ; and it was the 2d of October 

 before the captain reached his old friends at Coupang. 

 He remained there for a week, replacing with plants 

 from that island those that had died on the voyage ; 

 and then he came to the Atlantic by the Cape of 

 Good Hope, which he contrived to pass so closely 

 as never to have a lower temperature than sixty-ojie 

 degrees of Fahrenheit. 



