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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12 - Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the - Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea - and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Ti by Robert Kerr
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The next day at noon, having had little wind and calms, we anchored at
Port Famine, close to the shore, and found our situation very safe and
convenient; we had shelter from all winds except the S.E. which seldom
blows, and if a ship should be driven ashore in the bottom of the bay,
she could receive no damage, for it is all fine soft ground. We found
drift-wood here sufficient to have furnished a thousand sail, so that we
had no need to take the trouble of cutting green. The water of Sedger
river is excellent, but the boats cannot get in till about two hours
flood, because at low water it is very shallow for about three quarters
of a mile. I went up it about four miles in my boat, and the fallen
trees then rendered it impossible to go farther: I found it, indeed, not
only difficult but dangerous to get up thus far. The stream is very
rapid, and many stumps of trees lie hidden under it: One of these made
its way through the bottom of my boat, and in an instant she was full of
water. We got on shore as well as we could; and afterwards, with great
difficulty, hauled her up upon the side of the river: Here we contrived
to stop the hole in her bottom, so as that we made a shift to get her
down to the river's mouth, where she was soon properly repaired by the
carpenter. On each side of this river there are the finest trees I ever
saw, and I make no doubt but that they would supply the British navy
with the best masts in the world. Some of them are of a great height,
and more than eight feet in diameter, which is proportionably more than
eight yards in circumference; so that four men, joining hand in hand,
could not compass them: Among others, we found the pepper tree, or
Winter's bark, in great plenty.[23] Among these woods, notwithstanding
the coldness of the climate, there are innumerable parrots, and other birds
of the most beautiful plumage. I shot every day geese and ducks enough
to serve my own table and several others, and every body on board might
have done the same: We had, indeed, great plenty of fresh provisions of
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