1789. June 1.
Towards noon, Mr. Nelson, and his party, who had been to the easternmost key, returned; but himself in such a weak condition, that he was obliged to be supported by two men. His complaint was a violent heat in his bowels, a loss of sight, much drought, and an inability to walk. This I found was occasioned by his being unable to support the heat of the sun, and that, when he was fatigued and faint, instead of retiring into the shade to rest, he had continued to do more than his strength was equal to. It was a great satisfaction to me to find, that he had no fever; and it was now that the little wine, which I had so carefully saved became of real use. I gave it in very small quantities, with some small pieces of bread soaked in it; and, having pulled off his cloaths, and laid him under some shady bushes, he began to recover. The boatswain and carpenter also were ill, and complained of head-ach, and sickness of the stomach; others, who had not had any evacuation by stool, became shockingly distressed with the tenesmus; so that there were but few without complaints. An idea now prevailed, that their illness was occasioned by eating the dolichos, and some were so much alarmed that they thought themselves poisoned. Myself, however, and some others, who had eaten of them, were yet very well; but the truth was, that all those who were complaining, except Mr. Nelson, had gorged themselves with a large quantity of raw beans, and Mr. Nelson informed me, that they were constantly teazing him, whenever a berry was found, to know if it was good to eat; so that it would not have been surprizing if many of them had been really poisoned.
Our dinner was not so well relished as at Sunday Island, because we had mixed the dolichos with our stew. The oysters and soup, however, were eaten by every one, except Mr. Nelson, whom I fed with a few small pieces of bread soaked in half a glass of wine, and he continued to mend.
In my walk round the island, I found several cocoa-nut shells, the remains of an old wigwam, and the backs of two turtle, but no sign of any quadruped. One of my people found three sea-fowl's eggs.
As is common on such spots, the soil is little other than sand, yet it produced small toa-trees, and some others, that we were not acquainted with. There were fish in the lagoon, but we could not catch any. As our wants, therefore, were not likely to be supplied here, not even with water for our daily expence, I determined to sail in the morning, after trying our success in the night for turtle and birds. A quiet night's rest also, I conceived, would be of essential service to those who were unwell.
From the wigwam and turtle-shell being found, it is certain that the natives sometimes resort to this place, and have canoes: but I did not apprehend that we ran any risk by remaining here. I directed our fire, however, to be made in the thicket, that we might not be discovered in the night.
1789. June 1.
At noon, I observed the latitude of this island to be 11° 47´ S. The main land extended towards the N W, and was full of white sand-hills: another small island lay within us, bearing W by N 1/4 N, three leagues distant. My situation being very low, I could see nothing of the reef towards the sea.
Tuesday 2.
Tuesday, June the 2d. The first part of this day we had some light showers of rain; the latter part was fair, wind from the S E, blowing fresh.