TRANSCRIPTION
CHAP. VI
The Passage from the Isle of France to New Holland, Leuwin's Land, &c.
[From April 25th to June 19th, 1801]
ON the 25th of April we took our departure from the Isle of France, to direct our course towards New Holland. We were scarcely under sail, when we were informed by our commander, that from that time we should have but half a pound of new bread once in ten days ; that instead of the allowance of wine, we should have three-sixteenths of a bottle of bad rum of The Isle of France, bought at a low price in that colony; and that the biscuit and salt provisions should be our general food. Thus, from the first day of a Voyage which must necessarily be both long and difficult, we were abridged all at once of bread, wine, and fresh meat - a sad prelude, and chief cause of all the miseries we in the end experienced.
