8o CAPTAIN COOK 



had pitched two tents. The first was intended 

 to house the provisions and other stores taken 

 from the ship, and the second to shelter the men 

 sick of scurvy, which had made its appearance. 

 The astronomer Green and Tupia were seriously 

 ill with it. The latter recovered quickly enough, 

 but the state of the former's health gave no sign 

 of improvement. 



While the carpenters and smiths repaired the 

 damage to the ship and put her once more into 

 sailing trim, Cook surveyed the coast, and the 

 indefatigable Banks and several others explored 

 the interior. It was also necessary to revictual, 

 and in this respect the menus were worthy of the 

 best tables in England. They killed pigeons for 

 the sick men, and the crew tasted the delicious 

 flesh of the kangaroo. Fish was plentiful, also 

 shell-fish, of which some were so large that the 

 contents of one were more than sufficient for 

 two men. But the most delicious food were the 

 turtles, which were found in great numbers on 

 the sandbanks. Cabbages formed the principal 

 vegetable, while plum fruit and a kind of plum 

 peculiar to the country provided dessert. 



New and strange animals sometimes appeared 

 to the hunters. One day, a scared sailor came 

 and told Cook that he had seen the devil. "He 

 was, says John, as large as a one gallon keg and 

 very like it; he had horns and wings, yet he crept 



