Finding in the morning that my friend the planter was not returned, I took leave of his mansion, and very hospitable servant; and after visiting the soldiers in their new abodes, was conducted by the quarter-master to a neat habitation appropriated to my use. I found the house entirely unfurnished, though not destitute of inhabitants; for, leaving my Captain’s commission, which was of parchment, in the window, the first night, I had the mortification to find in the morning that it was devoured by the rats. Having taken possession of my habitation, my next wish was to furnish it properly; but all cares of this nature were rendered unnecessary by the generous hospitality of the inhabitants; the ladies supplied me with tables, chairs, glasses, and even plate and china, in great abundance; and the gentlemen loaded me with presents of Madeira wine, porter, cyder, rum and sugar, besides a quantity of the most exquisite fruits. Amongst the latter I was particularly struck with the shaddock and awara; the former of these, which is of a very agreeable flavour, between a sweet and an acid, is produced from a tree supposed to be transplanted from the coast of Guinea [4], by a Captain Shaddock, whose name it still retains throughout the English West India islands, but is called pompelmoose in Surinam. This fruit appears to be of the orange species, but is as large as the head of a child of eight or ten years old; the skin is extremely thick, of a bitterish taste, and a pale yellow or citron colour. There are two species of the shaddock, of which the pulp of the one is white, and that of the other a beautiful pale red, which may be safely eaten in considerable quantities: indeed it is esteemed by the natives, who are in general remarkably fond of it, as very salubrious. The awara, or avoira, which is less remarkable for the excellence of its flavour than its beautiful appearance, grows upon a species of palm-tree, and is of an oval form, about the size of an Orlean plumb, and of a rich deep orange colour, nearly approaching to red. It is much esteemed by the negroes, who exercise their ingenuity in forming rings out of the stones, which they decorate with cyphers, initial letters, and other devices, then dispose of them to the Europeans, who mount them in gold. These stones are large, extremely hard, and as black as jet or ebony, but the pulp which surrounds them is very thin. This day, on examining into the state of our remaining live stock, such as hogs, sheep, ducks, geese, fowls, and turkies, we found them nearly as many in number as when we first sailed from Holland: these were all sent to the colonel’s poultry-yard at the head-quarters, while we had the additional mortification of seeing above sixty large kegs with preserved vegetables, &c. and just as many fine Westphalia hams (being perfectly rotten) thrown into the river Surinam to feed the sharks.