A Voyage to the South Sea | Page 5

being now so far advanced as to render it
probable that your arrival with the vessel you command on the southern
coast of America will be too late for your passing round Cape Horn
without much difficulty and hazard, you are in that case at liberty
(notwithstanding former orders) to proceed in her to Otaheite, round the
Cape of Good Hope.
Given under our hands the 18th December 1787.
HOWE, CHARLES BRETT, BAYHAM.
To Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding His Majesty's armed vessel
Bounty, Spithead.
By command of their Lordships,
P. Stephens.
...
The Breadfruit is so well known and described that to attempt a new
account of it would be unnecessary and useless. However as it may
contribute to the convenience of the reader I have given the following

extracts respecting it with the plate annexed.
EXTRACT FROM THE ACCOUNT OF DAMPIER'S VOYAGE
ROUND THE WORLD PERFORMED IN 1688.
The breadfruit (as we call it) grows on a large tree, as big and high as
our largest apple-trees: It hath a spreading head, full of branches and
dark leaves. The fruit grows on the boughs like apples; it is as big as a
penny-loaf when wheat is at five shillings the bushel; it is of a round
shape, and hath a thick tough rind. When the fruit is ripe it is yellow
and soft, and the taste is sweet and pleasant. The natives of Guam use it
for bread. They gather it, when full-grown, while it is green and hard;
then they bake it in an oven, which scorches the rind and makes it black;
but they scrape off the outside black crust, and there remains a tender
thin crust; and the inside is soft, tender, and white like the crumb of a
penny-loaf. There is NEITHER SEED NOR STONE in the inside, but
all is of a pure substance, like bread. It must be eaten new; for, if it is
kept above twenty-four hours, it grows harsh and choaky; but it is very
pleasant before it is too stale. This fruit lasts in season EIGHT
MONTHS in the year, during which the natives 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. Volume 1 page 296.
...
EXTRACT FROM THE ACCOUNT OF LORD ANSON'S VOYAGE,
PUBLISHED BY MR. WALTER.
There was at Tinian a kind of fruit, peculiar to these (Ladrone) islands,
called by the Indians rhymay, but by us the breadfruit; for it was
constantly eaten by us, during our stay upon the island, * instead of
bread; and so UNIVERSALLY PREFERRED that no ship's bread was
expended in that whole interval. It grew upon a tree which is somewhat
lofty, and which towards the top divides into large and spreading
branches. The leaves of this tree are of a remarkable deep green, are
notched about the edges, and are generally from a foot to eighteen

inches in length. The fruit itself is found indifferently on all parts of the
branches; it is in shape rather elliptical than round; it is covered with a
tough rind and is usually seven or eight inches long; each of them
grows singly and not in clusters. This fruit is fittest to be used when it
is full-grown but still green; in which state, after it is properly prepared
by being roasted in the embers, its taste has some distant resemblance
to that of an artichoke's bottom, and its texture is not very different, for
it is soft and spongy.
(*Footnote. About two months, namely from the latter end of August to
the latter end of October, 1742.)
...
EXTRACTS FROM THE ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF
CAPTAIN COOK. HAWKESWORTH, VOLUME 2.
IN THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.
The breadfruit grows on a tree that is about the size of a middling oak;
its leaves are frequently a foot and a half long, of an oblong shape,
deeply sinuated like those of the fig-tree, which they resemble in
consistence and colour, and in the exuding of a white milky juice upon
being broken. The fruit is about the size and shape of a child's head,
and the surface is reticulated not much unlike a truffle: it is covered
with a thin skin, and has a core about as big as the handle of a small
knife. The eatable part lies between the skin and the core; it is as white
as snow, and somewhat of the consistence of new bread: it must be
roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into three or four parts. Its
taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness somewhat resembling that