1773.
May.
The stay which we had made here of six weeks, and four days, together with the abundance of fresh provisions which we enjoyed, and the constant exercise we used, had contributed to recover all those who had been ill of the scurvy at our arrival, and given new strength to the rest. However it is much to be doubted, whether we should have preserved our health so well as we did, without the use of the fermented liquor or spruce-beer which we brewed. The climate of Dusky Bay, is I must own, its greatest inconvenience, and can never be supposed a healthy one. During the whole of our stay, we had only one week of continued fair weather, all the rest of the time the rain predominated. But perhaps the climate was less noxious to Englishmen than to any other nation, because it is analagous to their own. Another inconvenience in Dusky Bay is the want of celery, scurvy-grass, and other antiscorbutics, which may be found in great plenty at Queen Charlotte's sound, and many parts in New Zeeland. The intricate forests which clothe the ground, the prodigious steepness of the hills, which on that account are almost incapable of cultivation, and the virulent bite of sand-flies, which causes ulcers like the small-pox, are certainly disagreeable circumstances; but of small consequence to those who only put in here for refreshment, when compared to the former. With all its defects, Dusky Bay is one of the finest placesin
