N A R K A T I V E O F A N 



€ n A?. pe£ted that I fhould fay fomething concerning its growrt^' 

 XXV m. ^^^1 cultivation. It rifes to the height of four feet, with 

 furrowed (talks, and in appearance is not unlike wheat, 

 but the ftalks are knotted by intervals, and ftronger ; the 

 leaves are like thofe of reeds : the feeds are produced 

 fomewhat like barley, and grow on each fide of the 

 fpikes or ears alternately. The oryza or rice is cultivated 

 in a warm and marfhy foil; the grains are oval, and if good 

 ought to be white, hard, and tranfparent. As for the 

 ufe of this commodity for food, it is fo well known, that 

 1 lliall only fay, that without this grain our poor marines 

 muft long ago have all been ftarved, particularly in Au- 

 guft 1775 ; when, for all allowance, they got per day o^ie 

 rufk bifcuit, and fbree fpikes of maize or Indian corn, for 

 ^ve men ; rice alone fupplying, as I have intimated, the 

 reft of the allowance. ^ ^- 



Having now fully compleated my commiflion, I, with 

 my detachment, marched back for the Caffeepore Creek, 

 diredling my courfe through the ruined fields of Gado- 

 Saby, which were at prefent choked up to a perfe6l 

 wildernefs. Hence we kept firft to the fouth-weft, and 

 then due fouth, after which we flung our hammocks 

 near a former encampment. It is to be obferved, that at 

 this time all the marflies were nearly dry, on account of 

 the hotteft feafori I ever remember; while the foetid fmell 

 oecafioned by the quantities of dead warrapa fifh, that 

 had been deferted by the water, was an intolerable niai- 

 fance. From amongft thefe putrid fifhes, our negro 



Haves 



