The next day, being Sunday and so stormy that we could not enjoy ourselves ashore, a number of us spent it aboard the Eliza. We were the more easily induced to do this from the fact of her having a French cook, who left the Alexander at Stewart’s Island and joined the Eliza. He was discharged from the Alexander, and the oil belonging to him was rolled ashore. Here he professed to be very happy; and, as he was thoroughly master of his business, he was much esteemed by those whom he catered for. I was much surprised at the palatable, and even luxurious, taste of the salt-beef, after having been manipulated by him, compared to that which had undergone the same operation by the hands of our own cook. Although I may have been prejudiced, or the superiority of the viands had rendered my appetite fastidious on that particular day, yet certainly, the fare was such as not to have been laughed at, even at the table of a first-class hotel. There were wild ducks, wild pigeons, wood-hens, noble fish from the bay, excellent corned-beef, and, to crown all, a noble plum-duff; and we did good justice to the repast. At supper we drank, as a beverage, a decoction of a New Zealand plant, which is used throughout the island instead of tea. It possesses an aromatic taste, and the little I partook of enlisted me in its favor; but how a continued use of it would answer, I am at a loss to say. The Frenchman said that he had used it for several months, and preferred it, for his own consumption, to tea produced in China. As he was a Parisian, and a restaurateur into the bargain, I do not see that I could quote better individual authority.