CHAP. XX.] A DKUCIOUS VBOETJBLE. 3:J3 



continued for some weeks, fresh ones coming out a-s i"a.st 

 others got well ; but good living and sea baths ultimately 

 cured them. 



About the end of January Charles Allen, who had been 

 my assistant in Malacca and Borneo, a^^aiii joiinsd Die on 

 agreement for three years ; and as soon an I got tolerably 

 Avell, we had plenty to do laying? in atorei^ and mftking 

 arraRgeiaeuts for oiiv en55uing campai^^ii. Our greatest 

 difficulty was in obtaining men, but at last we succeeded 

 in fretting two each. Au Amboyna Christian named 

 Theodoras Matakena, who had been some time with me 

 and had learnt to skin birds very woU, agreed to go witli 

 Allen, as well sis a very quiet and indiBtrious lai.i named 

 Cornelius, whom I liad brought from Meuado. I had two 

 Amhoynese, named Petrus Reliatta, and Mesach ilata- 

 kena; the latter of whom had two brothers, named re- 

 spectively Shadrach and Abednego, in accoiviance with the 

 usual custom among these people of giving only Scripture 

 names to their childreiL 



During the tinie I resided in this place I enjoyed a 

 luxurj' I have never met with either before or since — the 

 true bread-fruit. A good deal of it has been planted 

 about here and m the surrounding villages, and almost 

 every day we had opportunities of purchasing some, as 

 all tlie boats going to Amboyna were unloaded just oppo- 

 site my door to be dragged acn)S3 the isthmus. Though 

 it grows in several other parts of the Archipelago, it is 

 nowhere abundant, and the season for it only lasts a short 

 time. It is baked entire in the hot embers, and the 

 inside scooped out with a spoon. I compared it to York- 

 shii"e pudding; Charles Allen said it was like mashed 

 potatoes and milk. It is generally about the size of a 

 melon, a little fibrous towards the centre, but everywhere 

 else quite smooth and puddingy, something in consistence 

 between yeaat-dumplings and batter-puddiug. We some- 

 times made cuixy or stew of it, or fried it in slices ; 

 but it is no way so good as simply baked. It may be 

 eaten sweet or savory. With meat and gravy it is a 

 vegetable superior to any I know, either in temperate or 

 tropical countries. With sugar, milk, butter, or treacle, it 

 IB a delicious pudding, having a very slight and delicate 



