210 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820. being quite complete, and strongly tinged with the prismatic colours ; the second 
vyv' nearly perfect ; and the inner one being only perceptible near its eastern leg. 
Sat. 17. A fog in the early part of the morning, being dispersed by the warmth 
of the sun, the weather became fine and pleasant. Having observed 
that the sorrel was now so far advanced in foliage as to be easily 
gathered in sufficient quantity for eating, I gave orders that two after- 
noons in each week should be occupied by all hands in collecting the 
leaves of this plant ; each man being required to bring in, for the present, 
one ounce, to be served in lieu of the lemon-juice, pickles, and dried herbs 
which had been hitherto issued. The growth of the sorrel was from this 
time so quick, and the quantity of it so great on every part of the ground 
about the harbour, that we shortly after sent the men out every afternoon for 
an hour or two ; in which time, besides the advantage of a healthy walk, they 
could without difficulty pick nearly a pound each, of this valuable antiscor- 
butic, of which they were all extremely fond. A part of the leaves thus 
daily collected was served to the messes, both of officers and men, and 
eaten in various ways, such as pickles, salad, in puddings, or boiled as greens ; 
in all of which modes it was constantly and abundantly used till we 
sailed from Winter Harbour, and for three weeks after, whenever an oppor- 
tunity offered of sending on shore to procure it. Of the good effects pro- 
duced upon our health by the unlimited use of fresh vegetable substances, 
thus bountifully supplied by the hand of nature, even where least to be ex- 
pected, little doubt can be entertained, as it is well known to be a never- 
failing specific for scorbutic affections, to which all persons deprived of it 
for a length of time are probably more or less pre-disposed. It is reasonable, 
therefore, to attribute in a great degree to the use of the sorrel, the efficient 
state of our crews at the time of our re-commencing our operations at sea. 
We found also a few roots of scurvy-grass ( Coclilearia Fenestrata), but they 
were too rare and the leaves too small to be of any service to us. 
Mr. Wakeham, with a party from the S.W., returned in the evening from a 
shooting excursion, having killed the first deer that we had procured this 
season, which gave us sixty pounds of meat. A second, sent in by Lieutenant 
Beechey on the 19th, weighed only fifty-two pounds, when cleaned, though 
not of a very small size ; but these animals are extremely lean on their first 
' arrival from the south, and appear to improve in this respect very rapidly by 
the good feeding they find upon this island. 
By the 20th of June the land, in the immediate neighbourhood of the ships. 
