Wednesday 12 October 1836

Wednesday Oct^r 12. Off with a fair wind, but the Buffalo seems
to be in more inextricable confusion that ever; half the men
scarcely sober, the other half fit for nothing from the effects of the
gross intemperance in which they have been permitted to indulge
A fresh supply of poultry, & as if the poor emigrants had not
nuisance around them enough already, eight or ten half grown
hogs which the Captain purchased at Rio a bargain have been
added for their comfort & cleanliness. The Captain’s strict orders from
the Admiralty were to proceed without touching at any port unless
in case of necessity. On a very short allowance of water, we might
have gone on to the Cape; & it was to avoid a measure of this kind
that we came a couple of thousand miles & more out of our track to
Rio. And now what has been the first step taken by the Captain
on leaving this port? Why to do the very thing he came here professedly
to avoid, to reduce the allowance of water to each passenger and
emigrant one pint a day! Besides the mules & hogs, the pens are
filled up with his Excellency’s turkeys, guinea fowls, geese and
poultry, & they must have water; so to accommodate them, we
are thus treated! But this is quite consistent with his general conduct
which is daily becoming more offensive.