268 cook's voyage to aIpril, 



of the case required that every person should be con- 

 stantly employed in the necessary business of the 

 ships, which was the capital object, as the season 

 was advancing very fast, and the success of the voy- 

 age depended upon their diligence and alacrity in 

 expediting the various tasks assigned to them. Hence 

 it happened that excursions of every kind, either 

 on the land or by water, were never attempted. And 

 as we lay in a cove on an island, no other animals 

 were ever seen alive in the woods there, than two or 

 three racoons, martins, and squirrels. Besides these, 

 some of our people who, one day, landed on the 

 continent near the south-east side of the entrance of 

 the Sound, observed the prints of a bear's feet near 

 the shore. The account, therefore, that we can give 

 of the quadrupeds is taken from the skins which the 

 natives brought to sell ; and these were often so mu- 

 tilated, with respect to the distinguishing parts, such 

 as the paws, tails, and heads, that it was impossible 

 even to guess at the animals to whom they belonged ; 

 though others were so perfect, or, at least, so well 

 known, that they left no room to doubt about them. 

 Of these the most common were bears, deer, foxes, 

 and wolves. The bear-skins were in great numbers ; 

 few of them very large ; but, in general, of a shining 

 black colour. The deer-skins were scarcer, and they 

 seem to belong to that sort called the fallow-deer by 

 the historians of Carolina ; though Mr. Pennant 

 thinks it quite a different species from ours, and dis- 

 tinguishes it by the name of Virginian deer. * The 

 foxes are in great plenty, and of several varieties ; 

 some of their skins being quite yellow, with a black 

 tip to the tail ; others of a deep or reddish yellow, 

 intermixed with black ; and a third, sort of a whitish 

 grey or ash-colour, also intermixed with black. Our 

 people used to apply the name of fox or wolf indis- 



* See Virginian deer : Pennant's Hist. Quad. vol. i. N. 46 ; and 

 Arctic Zool. N.6. 



