ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 203 



wherein, if not to lay its head, at an}' rate to put its tail, for the latter is soft and requires 

 constant protection. Thus, when the "pirate" moves about, his head and claws are always 

 protruded, but his rear is covered with his borrowed shell. It is still an unsettled question 

 whether this animal appropriates the domicils of others by first rudely ejecting their living 

 occupants, or more considerately waits until a natural death or some fatality vacates the 

 quarters, and then takes possession. The "pirate" is a voracious creature, and seizes with 

 great avidity upon anything eatable that comes in its way. 



The scarcity of birds, both of sea and land species, struck every one as singular. There were 

 not more than four or five varieties of the latter, the largest of which were the crow and the 

 pigeon, the others being of small size. There were but few gulls or other sea-birds; on 

 approaching the islands, some petrel were observed, of unusually large size and of singularly 

 brilliant plumage. 



Among the quadrupeds there were found sheep, deer, hogs, and goats, with an infinite 

 number of cats and dogs. The cats and dogs, having lost some of their quiet domestic virtues, 

 had strayed into the jungle, and were dignified by the inhabitants with the title of wild 

 animals, and were accordingly hunted with dogs. On Stapleton Island, the goats, which were 

 placed there by some of the early settlers, have increased prodigiously, as have also these 

 animals, together with the hogs, put iipon the other islands. Commodore Perry left on shore 

 on the north side of Peel Island, with a view to their increase, two bulls and two cows, and on 

 North Island five Shanghai broad-tailed sheep, of which two were rams, and six goats. 



Peel Island is the only one of the Bonin group inhabited, and it contained on the visit of the 

 Commodore only thirty-one inhabitants, all told : of these, three or four were native Americans, 

 about the same number Englishmen, one a Portuguese, and the remainder Sandwich islanders 

 and children born on the island. The settlers have cultivated patches of land of some extent, 

 and raise a considerable quantity of sweet potatoes, Indian corn, pumpkins, onions, taro, and 

 several kinds of fruit, the most abundant of which are water-melons, bananas, and pine-apples. 

 These productions, together with the few pigs and poultry that are raised, find a ready sale to 

 the whale ships constantly touching at the port for water and other supplies. During the few 

 days the Susquehanna was at anchor in the harbor, three whalers, two American and one 

 English, communicated by means of their boats with the settlement and carried away a o-ood 

 stock of supjjlies. These are obtained ordinarily in exchange for other articles from on board 

 the ships, of which ardent spirits is to some of the settlers the most accejitable. Were it not for 

 the scarcity of labor a much greater extent of land would be cultivated. At present there cannot 

 be more than a hundred and fifty acres throughout the whole island under cultivation, and this 

 is in detached spots, generally at the seaward termination of the ravines through which the 

 mountain streams flow and thus supply an abundance of fresh water, or upon plateaux of land 

 near the harbor. The soil is of excellent quality and resembles very much that of Madeira and 

 the Canary islands, which are in the same parallel of latitude. It is admirably adapted for the 

 cultivation of the vine, and for the raising of wheat, tobacco, sugar-cane, and many other 

 valuable plants. In fact, the settlers already produce enough sugar and tobacco for their own 

 consumption. 



The few people who live on Peel Island seem happy and contented. Those of European orio-in 

 have succeeded in surrounding themselves with some of the comforts and appliances of 

 civilization. In one of the cottages there was observed several compartments, and what with 



