l/GS. liOUND THE WOULD. 37 



was a great variety, and some of them very beau- 

 tiful ; but they were much more nimble than those 

 of Europe, especially the butterflies, most of which 

 flew near the tops of the trees, and were, therefore, 

 very difficult to be caught, except when the sea 

 breeze blew fresh, which kept them nearer to the 

 ground. 



The banks of the sea, and of the small brooks 

 which water this part of the country, are almost 

 covered with the small crabs called Cancer vocans ; 

 some of these had one of the claws called by natu- 

 ralists the hand, very large ; others had them both 

 remarkably small, and of egual size, a difference 

 which is said to distinguish the sexes, that with the 

 large claw being the male. 



There is the appearance of but little cultivation ; 

 the greater part of the land is wholly uncultivated, 

 and very little care and labour seem to have been 

 bestowed upon the rest ; there are, indeed, little 

 patches or gardens, in which many kinds of European 

 garden stuff are produced, particularly cabbages, 

 peas, beans, kidney beans, turnips, and white radishes, 

 but all much inferior to our own : water-melons and 

 pine-apples are also produced in these spots, and 

 they are the only fruits that w^e saw cultivated, though 

 the country produces musk, melons, oranges, limes, 

 lemons, sweet lemons, citrons, plantains, bananas, 

 mangos, mamane apples, acajou or cashou apples 

 and nuts ; jamboira of two kinds, one of which 

 bears a small black fruit ; cocoa-nuts, mangos, palm- 

 nuts of two kinds, one long, the other round ; and 

 palm-berries; all which were in season while we were 

 there. 



Of these fruits the water-melons and oranges are 

 the best in their kind ; the pine-apples are much 

 inferior to those that I have eateu in England ; they 

 are, indeed, more juicy and sweet, but have no flavour: 

 I believe them to be natives of this country, though 

 we heard of none that at this time grow wild 5 they 



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