820 cook's first voyage dec 



cause it is scarce, and very much inferior in every 

 respect, is placed upon the tables of the rich. A 

 sensible housekeeper once spoke to us freely upon 

 the subject. I know, said he, as well as you, that 

 I could purchase a better dish of fish for a shilling, 

 than what now costs me ten ; but if I should make 

 so good a use of my money, I should here be as 

 much despised, as you would be in Europe, if you 

 were to cover your table with offals, fit only for 

 beggars or dogs. 



Turtle is also found here, but it is neither so sweet 

 nor so fat as the West Indian turtle, even in London; 

 such as it is, however, we should consider it as a 

 dainty; but the Dutch, among other singularities, 

 do not eat it. We saw some lizards, or Iguanas, 

 here of a very large size ; we were told that some 

 were as thick as a man's thigh, and Mr. Banks shot 

 one that was five feet long: the flesh of this animal 

 proved to be very good food. 



Poultry is very good here, and in great plenty : 

 fowls of a very large size, ducks, and geese, are very 

 cheap ; pigeons are dear, and the price of turkies 

 extravagant. We sometimes found the flesh of these 

 animals lean and dry, but this was merely the effect 

 of their being ill fed, for those that we fed ourselves 

 were as good as any of the same kind that we had 

 tasted in Europe, and we sometimes thought them 

 even better. 



Wild fowl in general is scarce. We once saw a 

 wild duck in the fields, but never any that were to be 

 sold. We frequently saw snipes of two kinds, one of 

 them exactly the same as that in Europe, and a kind 

 of thrush was always to be had in great plenty of the 

 Portuguese, who, for I know not what reason, seem 

 to have monopolized the wild fowl and game. Of 

 snipes, it is remarkable, that they are found in more 

 parts of the world than any other bird, being com- 

 mon almost all over Europe, Asia, Africa, and 

 America. 



