418 cook's voyage to jan, 



watering is at a beach on the eastern side, where 

 there is a small stream which furnished us with four- 

 teen or fifteen tons of water a-day. 



This island, both with respect to animal and veget- 

 able productions, is considerably improved since the 

 time when Dampier visited it. Neither that writer, 

 nor the compiler of the East India Directory, make 

 mention of any other quadrupeds than hogs, which 

 are said to be very scarce, lizards, and the guanoes; 

 and the latter, on the authority of Monsieur Dedier, 

 a French engineer, who surveyed the island about 

 the year 17^0, says, that none of the fruits and escu- 

 lent plants, so common in the other parts of India, 

 are to be found here, except water-melons, a few 

 potatoes, small gourds, chibbols (a small species of 

 onion), and little black beans. At present, besides 

 the buffaloes, of which we understood there were 

 several large herds, we purchased from the natives 

 some remarkably fine fat hogs, of the Chinese breed. 

 They brought us three or four of a wild sort 5 and 

 our sportsmen reported, that they frequently met 

 with their tracks in the woods, which also abound 

 with monkeys and squirrels, but so shy, that it was 

 difficult to shoot them. One species of the squirrel 

 was of a beautiful shining black colour, and another 

 species striped brown and white. This is called the 

 flying-squirrel, from being provided with a thin mem- 

 brane, resembling a bat's wing, extending on each 

 side the belly, from the neck to the thighs, which, 

 on stretching out their legs, spreads, and enables 

 them to fly from tree to tree, at a considerable dis- 

 tance. Lizards were in great abundance ; but I do 

 not know that any of us saw the guano, and another 

 animal, described by Dampier # as resembling the 

 guano, only much larger. 



Amongst its vegetable improvements, I have al- 

 ready mentioned the fields of rice we passed through ; 



* Vide Dampier, vol. i. p, 392. 



