44 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



ocean, sailed off and were soon out of sight. Bligh 

 and his companions bore up with superhuman cour- 

 age in the midst of their fatigue and sufferings ; 

 only one succumbed. They arrived at the island of 

 Timor after having sailed the distance of 3,600 nau- 

 tical miles in the long boat. The Dutch governor 

 received them kindly, and soon twelve of them were 

 able to take passage to Ireland. Bligh obtained justice 

 in England ; he was immediately promoted to the 

 rank of captain and placed in charge of a new and 

 larger expedition. This time he succeeded completely, 

 and two years after the two vessels of the expedition 

 landed in the British West Indies, having on board 

 1,200 plants of the bread-fruit-tree, and without hav- 

 ing lost a single man of either of the crews. 



The slaves of the West Indies did not show as 

 much alacrity in making use of the fruit as had been 

 expected, preferring their familiar food, the banana ; 

 on the other hand, the Europeans accepted it with great 

 pleasure. It ought to be stated, however, that the 

 slaves eat the fruit without having previously pre- 

 pared it, while the Europeans cooked it according to 

 the best receipts of English writers. 



The old people of Otaheiti attribute the origin of 

 the bread-fruit-tree to an incident which is embodied 

 in a touching legend. 



At a time of great scarcity, a father assembled his 

 numerous children upon the mountains and said to 

 them : " You will inter me in this place ; but you will 

 find me again on the morrow." 



The children obeyed, and coming on the following 



