52 ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND SAMAR. Sept. 21, 



compafs of eighty yards, the Imliaii finds his annual 

 fupply of thefe articles for the maintenance of a nume- 

 rous family. 



" The fugar-cane, cabbages, garlic, onions, melons, 

 the Chlnefe-orange, lemons, vegetables, and, though in 

 fmall quantity, feveral other kinds of fruit little known 

 in Europe, are cultivated in this ifland. It abounds in 

 figs, of which I reckon no fewer than thirteen or four- 

 teen different fpecies, with a great variety of perfumes *. 

 The natives are inftrufted to give particular attention 

 to the culture of the cocoa-tree, which grows here to 

 an uncommon fize. Their woods produce the /<7w/)/f- 

 mcusy a fpecies of orange, near five inches in diameter, 

 pepper, honey, and wax. Indeed all thefe iflands are 

 eminently diflinguifhed by the labours of the bee ; and 

 hence I have feldom made an excurfion into the woods 

 without meeting numbers of bee-hives, fufpended in 

 form of oblong gourds, from the branches of the trees, 



*' The bounty of Nature in Samar is no lefs vifible 

 in the variety and excellence of its game. The woods 

 fwarm witli birds almoft of every defcription, particu- 

 larly the common fowl, which is diftinguifhcd, how- 

 ever, from ours by the fliortened proportions of its 

 body and legs. The colour of the hen is grey, with 

 feathers fpotted like a partridge. There are three dif- 

 ferent fpecies of turtle-dove ; the firfl; grey, and a& 

 large as a puilet ; the fecond feems, however, to be 

 oniy a dwarfifli breed of the firft ; the third is green, 

 and when prepared for the table affords delicate eatings 

 I met with a kind of bird peculiar, I believe, to thefe 

 iflands, named calao, as large as a goofc, and agreeable 

 to the tafte, but extremely Ihy and difficult to approach. 

 He frequents low fenny grounds, perches on the talleft 

 trees in their vicinity, and flits through the air with a 



* Might it not be of importance to try to naturalize feme of thefe va- 

 rieties in Europe ? This obfervation applies equally to feme of the ani- 

 mals afternientioned. — Edit. 



