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Princes Island

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Princes Island (continued)

Their food was nearly the same as the Batavian Indians, adding only to it the nuts of the Palm calld Cycas circinalis with which on the Coast of New Holland some of our people were made ill and some of our hogs Poisond outright. Their method of preparing them to get out their deleterious qualities they told me were first to cut the nuts into thin slices and dry them in the sun, then to steep them in fresh water for three months, afterwards pressing the water from them and drying them in the sun once more; they however were so far from being a delicious food that they never usd them but in times of scarcity when they mixt the preparation with their rice.

Their Town which they calld Samadang consisted of about 300 houses; great part of the old town however was in ruins. Their houses were all built up on pillars 4 or 5 feet above the ground. The Plan of that of Gundang, a man who seemd to be next in riches and influence to the king, will give an Idea of them all: it was walld with boards, a luxury none but the king and himself had, but in no other

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© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) 522, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-440.html