56 THE LANDING AT COUPANG. 
for table. Mr- Van Este ordered a house to be 
cleared and comfortably prepared for Bligh's 
use; but lie would accept nothing till lie saw 
his officers and men provided for also. He, 
therefore, took one room for himself ; and in his 
own memorandum book he specifies the manner 
in which he allotted the rest of the rooms to 
them. Then he adds, " The surgeon came to 
visit us. Clothes given. Dinner at noon." 
The picture given of the landing, displays in 
a striking manner the sad condition of these 
afflicted creatures, and the feelings excited in 
the hospitable people of Coupang. " Our bodies 
were nothing but skin and bones, our limbs 
were full of sores, and we were clothed in rags. 
In this condition, with the tears of joy and gra- 
titude flowing down our cheeks, the people of 
Timor beheld us with a mixture of horror, sur- 
prise, and pity." Bligh, who headed the sad 
procession, and who gave this account, must 
himself have had a ghastly and famine-stricken 
appearance ; for a few days before, when they 
were all on the open sea, the boatswain had in- 
nocently told him, that he (Captain Bligh) 
looked worse than any one in the boat. But 
Bligh himself cheerfully wrote with his own 
pen, " I ranked among the few of the heartiest 
ones, and was certainly the strongest on my 
legs, but reduced like the others very much ; and 
it was favourable to all, as I was able to move 
about, and supply the necessary wants." 
In July, David Nelson, the botanist, died of 
fever. Nelson was a man much respected, and 
of great scientific knowledge. He . had been 
