The hatchet was brought down according to promise, the theif they said afraid of conviction had in the night conveyd it into the house of the man who brought it. Trade as usual, 2 or 300 weight of Turtle in a day with fowls etc. Myself was this day seizd with a Return of my Batavia Fever, which I attributed to being much exposd to a burning sun in trading with the Natives.
Sydney Parkinson Journal
Here we were plentifully supplied with turtle, and fine fish of different sorts; cocoa-nuts, plantains, mangoes, limes and lemons: also with deer about the size of a calf; and a sort of smaller deer about as large as a rabbit, which ate much like them: a great quantity of poultry, with which the island abounds; young Indian corn, Tagaree, sugar, and some ducks. Their turtles were very lean, and far inferior to those we caught on the coast of New Holland, which I supposed might be owing to their having been kept long in crawles. We had also very fine water-melons, and bread-fruit, which would have been better had it not been so young.
This side of the island is pretty high, and covered with wood, excepting plantations of rice, upon which we saw several houses. The other side is plain flat ground, and abounds with plantations of pisang, calappa, and other fruits. The people who are upon it have been there between three and four years, and came from the main land of Java; and it is most likely dispossessed the former inhabi-tants. They are all Mahometans. It was the month of Ramezan when we were there, and in this month they never eat in the day-time. They have a Radja, or king, who, indeed, is but a poor one. They wear a piece of cotton check about their waists, which reaches to their knees, and another piece over their shoulders. Their hair is very mean, and unlike that of the Malays, which is very fine. *
* Here ends S. Parkinson’s journal.
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