Page:Narrativeavoyag01wilsgoog.djvu/361

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The wives of the guards are served with half the allowance granted to their husbands; and their children one quarter of that allowance. Children, above ten years of age, are victualled as adults.

On the days on which flour is ordered to be issued, suet and raisins, or currants, are substituted for one fourth part of the flour, one half in suet, and the other half of the said fourth part in fruit.

One pound of raisins being considered ??? of flour.

Half a pound of currants, ditto.

Half a pound of suet, ditto.

The provisions are cooked carefully, and ??? regular intervals—break&st, at half-past ??? one P.M., and supper, at five P.M.

In the distribution of the lime juice, water, sugar, and wine, and issued about a fortnight after we leave England, daily at eleven A.M., and at four P.M., each prisoner answers to his name, comes aft to the windward gangway, receives and drinks his allowance, passes the quarter-deck, and then walks forward on the other side. In this manner, every individual comes under my personal inspection at least twice a day; an object of no small importance, in the preservation of order, cleanliness, and consequent health.

Six pints of water are daily allowed, without deduction, to each person—soldier, sailor, and prisoner—on board, and one gallon while passing the tropics;—an allowance, I believe, greater than is granted in merchant ships, even of the first class.

Indeed, it is more than many people think necessary; but I have always considered it of manifest advantage not to be niggardly in this important article, and the Lords of the Admiralty have now ordered the above-mentioned quantity to be issued.

There is always an exceedingly commodious hospital in prison-ships, and the medicines, medical comforts, and hospital stores, are copious, and of good quality. The sick are