We ate them at every meal, by the dozen; and filled our pockets
with them, to eat in our watch on deck; and the bunches, rising in the
form of a cone, from the largest at the bottom, to the smallest, no
larger than a strawberry, at the top, soon disappeared. The chief use,
however, of the fresh provisions, was for the men with the scurvy. One
of them was able to eat, and he soon brought himself to, by gnawing
upon raw potatoes; but the other, by this time, was hardly able to
open his mouth; and the cook took the potatoes raw, pounded them in
a mortar, and gave him the juice to drink. This he swallowed, by the
tea-spoonful at a time, and rinsed it about his gums and throat. The
strong earthy taste and smell of this extract of the raw potato at
first produced a shuddering through his whole frame, and after
drinking it, an acute pain, which ran through all parts of his body;
but knowing, by this, that it was taking strong hold, he persevered,
drinking a spoonful every hour or so, and holding it a long time in
his mouth; until, by the effect of this drink, and of his own restored
hope, (for he had nearly given up, in despair) he became so well as to
be able to move about, and open his mouth enough to eat the raw
potatoes and onions pounded into a soft pulp.
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