minds, but it proved our fears had been but too well grounded, and when the Supply arrived they had not more than ten days' provisions in the store at full allowance, and from the 14th of last May till the 18th of July they were reduced to the scanty pittance of three pounds of flour and one pound and a half of beef per week.
'At this time a most merciful relief came to their assistance. It had been observed on a high hill in the island (which they have named Mount Pitt) that many sea-birds frequented it. An endeavour was made to take some of them, which was successful; and by attending more particularly to the time of their appearance, and their favourite haunts, they were discovered in the greatest abundance. It was the season in which they laid their eggs, and both birds and eggs were taken in such incredible quantities as occasioned the small allowance of meat they had issued before to be stopped; and, however wonderful it may appear to you, yet true it is, that those birds for many weeks were the chief subsistence of seven hundred men, and they were so easily taken that after sunset it was impossible to walk on the mount without treading on them, and sometimes towards evening they have been observed hovering in the air in such innumerable flocks as considerably to exclude the light from the admiring spectators; but now the melancholy truth of their visible decrease became more and more apparent. Their flights were directed
