On this day ...
20 September 1770
Endeavour Voyage Maps
James Cook's Journal Ms 1, National Library of Australia
Transcript of Cook's Journal
Joseph Banks's Journal
Sydney Parkinson's Journal
Description of the Island of Savu
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The principal trees of this island, are the fan-palm, the cocoa-nut, tamarind, limes, oranges, and mangoes; the other vegetable productions are maize, Guinea corn, rice, millet, callevances, and water-melons. We saw also one sugarcane, and a few kinds of European garden-stuff; particularly cellery, marjoram, fennel, and garlic. For the supply of luxury, it has betele, areca, tobacco, cotton, indico, and a small quantity of cinnamon, which seems to be planted here only for curiosity; and indeed we doubted whether it was the genuine plant, knowing that the Dutch are very careful not to trust the spices out of their proper islands. There are however several kinds of fruit, besides those which have been already mentioned; particularly the sweet sop, which is well known to the West Indians, and a small oval fruit, called the Blimbi, both of which grow upon trees. The blimbi is about three or four inches long, and in the middle about as thick as a man’s finger, tapering towards each end: it is covered with a very thin skin of a light green colour, and in the inside are a few seeds disposed in the form of a star: its flavour is a light, clean, pleasant acid, but it cannot be eaten raw; it is said to be excellent as a pickle; and stewed, it made a most agreeable sour sauce to our boiled dishes.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 682 - 683, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
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