At noon a dinner was brought to the house sufficiently good to make persons more accustomed to plenty eat too much.  Yet I believe few in such a situation would have observed more moderation than my people did.  My greatest apprehension was that they would eat too much fruit, of which there was great variety in season at this time.

Having seen everyone enjoy this meal of plenty I dined myself with Mr. Wanjon; but I felt no extraordinary inclination to eat or drink.  Rest and quiet I considered as more necessary to the reestablishment of my health and therefore retired soon to my room which I found furnished with every convenience.  But instead of rest my mind was disposed to reflect on our late sufferings, and on the failure of the expedition; but above all on the thanks due to Almighty God who had given us power to support and bear such heavy calamities and had enabled me at last to be the means of saving eighteen lives.

In times of difficulty there will generally arise circumstances that bear particularly hard on a commander.  In our late situation it was not the least of my distresses to be constantly assailed with the melancholy demands of my people for an increase of allowance which it grieved me to refuse.  The necessity of observing the most rigid economy in the distribution of our provisions was so evident that I resisted their solicitations and never deviated from the agreement we made at setting out.  The consequence of this care was that at our arrival we had still remaining sufficient for eleven days at our scanty allowance:  and if we had been so unfortunate as to have missed the Dutch settlement at Timor we could have proceeded to Java where I was certain that every supply we wanted could be procured.

Another disagreeable circumstance to which my situation exposed me was the caprice of ignorant people.  Had I been incapable of acting they would have carried the boat on shore as soon as we made the island of Timor without considering that landing among the natives at a distance from the European settlement might have been as dangerous as among any other Indians.

The quantity of provisions with which we left the ship was not more than we should have consumed in five days had there been no necessity for husbanding our stock.  The mutineers must naturally have concluded that we could have no other place of refuge than the Friendly Islands for it was not likely they should imagine that, so poorly equipped as we were in every respect, there could have been a possibility of our attempting to return homewards:  much less can they suspect that the account of their villainy has already reached their native country.