During all this times,- which would have
startled Dr. Graham- we lived upon almost nothing but fresh beef;
fried beefsteaks, three times a day,- morning, noon, and night. At
morning and night we had a quart of tea to each man; and an allowance
of about a pound of hard bread a day; but our chief article of food
was the beef. A mess, consisting of six men, had a large wooden kid
piled up with beefsteaks, cut thick, and fried in fat, with the grease
poured over them. Round this we sat, attacking it with our jack-knives
and teeth, and with the appetite of young lions, and sent back an
empty kid to the galley. This was done three times a day. How many
pounds each man ate in a day, I will not attempt to compute. A whole
bullock (we ate liver and all) lasted us but four days. Such devouring
of flesh, I will venture to say, was seldom known before. What one man
ate in a day, over a hearty man's allowance, would make a Russian's
heart leap into his mouth. Indeed, during all the time we were upon
the coast, our principal food was fresh beef, and every man had
perfect health; but this was a time of especial devouring; and what we
should have done without meat, I cannot tell.
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