1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 171 



The chief refreshment that we procured here was 

 turtle, but as they were not to be had without going 

 five leagues out to sea, and the weather was frequent- 

 ly tempestuous, we did not abound with this dainty : 

 what we caught, as well as the fish, was always equal- 

 ly divided among us all by weight, the meanest per- 

 son on board having the same share as myself; and 

 I think every commander, in such a voyage as this, 

 will find it his interest to follow the same rule. In 

 several parts of the sandy beaches, and sand hills 

 near the sea, we found purslain, and a kind of bean 

 that grows upon a stalk, which creeps along the 

 ground : the purslain we found very good when it 

 was boiled, and the beans are not to be despised, 

 for we found them of great service to our sick : the 

 best greens, however, that could be procured here 

 were the tops of the coccos, which have been men- 

 tioned already, as known in the West Indies by the 

 name of Indian hale: these were, in our opinion, 

 not much inferior to spinnage, which in taste 

 they somewhat resemble ; the roots indeed are not 

 good, but they might probably be meliorated by 

 proper cultivation. They are found here chiefly 

 in boggy ground. The few cabbage palms that we 

 met with, were in general small, and yielded so little 

 cabbage, that they were not worth seeking. 



Besides the kanguroo, and the opossum, that have 

 been already mentioned, and a kind of polecat, there 

 are wolves upon this part of the coast, if we were 

 not deceived by the tracks upon the ground, and 

 several species of serpents : some of the serpents 

 are venemous, and some harmless. There are no 

 tame animals here except dogs, and of these we saw 

 but two or three, which frequently came about the 

 tents, to pick up the scraps and bones that happened 

 to lie scattered near them. There does not indeed 

 seem to be many of any animal, except the kangu- 

 roo ; we scarcely saw any other above once, but 

 this we met with almost every time we went into 



