A FORTUNATE ESCAPE. 



529 



boat, a delicious stew of oysters, pork, bread, and cocoanut was 

 cooked, of which every man received a full pint. Spring water 

 was obtained by digging where a growth of wire grass indicated 

 a moist situation. The soft tops of palm-trees and fern-roots 

 furnished them a very palatable addition to their mess. After 

 laying in sixty gallons of water and as many oysters as they 

 could collect, they re-embarked, after having slept two nights 

 on land and having been greatly benefited thereby. Keeping to 

 the northwestward, and coasting along the shore, they landed 

 from time to time in search of food. On the 2d of June, the 

 watch of the gunner, which had been the only one in the com- 

 pany successfully to resist the influences of the weather, finally 

 stopped, so that sunrise, noon, and sunset were now the only 

 definite points in the twenty-four hours. On the next day, 

 having followed the northeastern shore of New Holland as 

 far as it lay in their route, they once more launched into the 

 open sea. 



On Thursday, the 11th, they passed, as Bligh supposed, the 

 meridian of the eastern point of Timor, — a fact which diffused 

 universal joy and satisfaction. On Friday, at three in the 

 morning, the island was faintly visible in the west, and by day- 

 light it lay but five miles to the leeward. They had run three 

 thousand six hundred and eighteen miles in an open boat in 

 forty-one days, with provisions barely sufficient for five. Though 

 life had never been sustained upon so little nourishment for so 

 long a time, and under equal circumstances of exposure and 

 suffering, not a man perished during the voyage. Their wants 

 were most kindly supplied by the Dutch at Coupang, and every 

 necessary and comfort administered with a most liberal hand. 



On his return to England, Bligh published a narrative of his 

 voyage and of the mutiny, which was soon translated into all 

 the languages of Europe. He ascribed the revolt to the desire 

 of the crew to lead an idle and luxurious life at Tahiti, though sub- 

 sequent developments, and his own outrageous and brutal conduct 

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