THE VOYAGE. 17 
has neither seed nor stone in the inside ; but all 
is of pure substance like bread. It must be 
eaten new ; for if it is kept above twenty-four 
hours, it grows harsh and choky; but it is 
very pleasant before it is too stale. This fruit 
lasts in season eight months in the year, during 
which the natives of Guam eat no other sort of 
food of bread kind. I did never see of this fruit 
anywhere but here. The natives told us that 
there is plenty of this fruit growing on the rest 
of the Ladrone Islands ; and I did never hear of 
it anywhere else." 
The ship Bounty, of 215 tons burden, left 
Spithead on the 23rd of December, 1787, carrying 
forty-six persons, including the commander, and 
a botanist, and gardener. They started with a 
fresh breeze, easterly, which moderated on the 
25th, so that they were able to keep their Christ- 
mas with cheerfulness; but it increased to such 
a heavy gale by the 27th, that the vessel suffered 
damage ; a sea which she shipped having broken 
some of the planks of the boats, and an azimuth 
compass. It also wetted and injured a few bags 
of bread in the cabin, which, when the weather 
improved, were got up and dried. The voyage 
was attended with many circumstances of diffi- 
culty and danger. The few hours of respite from 
the hard westerly winds that blew, were, accord- 
ing to a fine expression in Lord Anson's voyage, 
"like the elements drawing breath, to return 
upon them with redoubled violence." 
During the voyage Bligh lost an able seaman, 
James Valentine. This man's case appears to 
have been cruelly mismanaged by the surgeon, 
b2 
