MISERABLE ALLOWANCE. 43 
as the proportion of weight that each person 
should receive of bread at the time I served it." 
The allowance of half a pint of cocoa-nut 
milk was soon reduced to a quarter of a pint ; 
and these poor men, in their deep distress, at 
last relished even the wetted and decayed bread, 
which was doled out to each in the most careful 
and scrupulous manner. A storm of thunder 
and lightning, with heavy rain, though it 
drenched them once more to the skin, was yet 
very acceptable, as it gave them about twenty 
gallons of water. 
At about this date appears the following 
memorandum, which the author has copied 
from the book in Bligh's own hand- writing : 
" May 9 — Fair weather, smooth water ; served 
a gill of water, and half-an-ounce of bread for 
supper. Sung a song, and went to sleep." 
Sung a song ! Surely every feeling heart must 
be affected by the contemplation of this simple 
instance of cheerfulness in the night of affliction. 
It shows in Bligh's character that trust in Pro- 
vidence which is so pathetically described by 
the sailor, in Dibdin's sea song, as part of the 
naval chaplain's teaching : — 
" For he said how a sparrow can't founder, d'ye see, 
Without orders that came down below, 
And many fine things, that prov'd clearly to me 
That Providence takes us in tow. 
For, says he, do you mind me, let storms e'er so oft 
Take the top-sails of sailors aback, 
There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft 
To keep watch for the life of poor Jack." 
The annexed engraving, from a drawing made 
expressly for this work from the originals, shows 
