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and look at them, and made remarks on their condition. No wonder they go almost naked, the heat is enough to make anybody do so. They wear sun hats exactly like a large wash pan turned bottom upwards. A boy was steering who was the most good-looking of the lot.
The captain bought a monkey, which was quite young and has since afforded us plenty of amusement; also about four crates of yams and some bottles of curry powder. I waited for the next boat and invested half a crown in seven cocoanuts, a quarter hundred oranges and an immense bunch of bananas. The banana is a fruit in shape like a cucumber, only larger when they are well cultivated, and about a hundred grow on one bunch. My bunch was quite as much as I could lift, and being quite green I hung them over the ship's stern where in a day or two they ripened and were quite yellow. Their flavour is delicious, and is something like that of a ripe pear. When fried in butter they are delightful. The captain also bought 300 oranges for the use of the cabin, but madam ate them nearly all herself in less than a week. They were wild ones I believe, but the flavour was very good. Afterwards when other boats came off, we bought plantains, eggs and no end of things.
Two ships came in behind us, to one of which we afterwards spoke; she was the Wynand from London, and came out above 20 days after us, and turned off up to China, where she will in all probability reach in 100 days, as we should have done had we had a proper sort of man to act as captain. We ought to have gone off behind him, and never to have gone to Batavia, which has hindered us at least a fortnight, if not three weeks; so say all the ship captains at Batavia. We however turned off Point Nicholas and scarcely came under Babic Island when the wind ceased, and for four days we scarcely moved as many miles.
I grew quite disgusted. To amuse myself I got a hook and line and went fishing. But in throwing it out on the next day the hook caught the top of my finger and tore it clean through, taking away the whole of the upper part of the nail. I got it doctored up a bit, and what with cold water and other appliances it was nearly well in a day or two. I caught no fish, through not having any proper bait, although the fish were leaping out of the water by thousands, and the natives in their canoes were pulling them up by hundreds. We saw them also pulling in their nets, and trying by shouting to frighten the fish into their nets.
A boat at last came off at night out of Bantam, to ask for a job in