Lay lived upon the wild bup for a considerable time after the massacre, when residing with the poor old man, who saved his life, and before the high chief took compassion on him. It has a sweet taste, like the juice of a green corn-stalk. Bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and bup, is the only food of the inhabitants of the Mulgrave Islands, except at the season of the year, when great numbers of fish are taken. The industrious and enterprising have an abundant supply at that period; but it is only whilst the season lasts, as they are not in the practice of preserving them. The bup-tree is the most remarkable of all the vegetable productions of the Mulgrave Islands. To shipwrecked seamen, it might be the means of sustaining life, when no other food could be found, and, as it is a never-failing resource, it ought to be generally known amongst those, who navigate the Pacific Ocean. The tree generally grows from twenty to thirty feet high,--sometimes singly, but more frequently in small clusters. The diameter of the body rarely exceeds six inches. It has a hard thick bark, but the wood is spongy, like that of the cocoa-nut tree. It stands on from half a dozen to a dozen roots or prongs, by which it is propped up two or three feet from the ground. The fruit is an exact resemblance of a pine-apple. Its smell, when ripe, is at first agreeable, but, so powerful, that it soon becomes offensive. The taste of the ripe fruit has much the same effect--agreeable at first, like a mellow, sweet apple, but cloying and nauseous to the stomach, when taken in any quantity. The ripe fruit is never eaten by the natives of the Mulgraves. When green, it is not considered in a state to be eaten, until a beard, which grows out alongside of the stem, has acquired a length of four or five inches. It may then be taken from the tree, and eaten raw, or roasted between hot stones. The soft part of the seeds (if I may so call them) is alone palatable, the other part being hard and tough. The manner of eating it is, to twist the soft part off with the teeth, whereby the juice is expressed. There was but little about the islands that would excite the interest of either the botanist or naturalist. We saw but few flowers or plants. The islands were swarming with a species of small rat, that had a tuft of hair upon its tail. The natives spoke of them as being very troublesome. By throwing a small quantity of food upon the ground, near one of the huts, dozens of them could be collected together in a few moments.