2C4 P A P U A N I S L A N D S. 



Isle of King vvhicli he named Cockle ifle, Pigeon ifle, and king lViHianf% ifle. 

 Mr. Dalrymple^ in his view of headlands, gives a point on the 

 hill the title of cape Mabo ; that judicious writer makes king JVil^ 

 lianfi, illand the northern boundary of the new ftreight, or as he 

 names it Dampier's ftreight ; king lVilUam\ ifland is very mouu- 

 tanoiis and woody, and greatly refembling that of Patanta, 

 Dampier vifited a fmali low illand, (;ff the weftern part of king 

 JVilliain'Sj which he called Pigeon ifle, from its fwarming v.ith a 

 fpecies of thofe birds. 



Cockle Isle. The third he named Cockle ifle, from the number of the 

 Chama Gigas of Linnaus, which he found on the coral rocks. 

 This monftrous fhell is defcribed by Rwnphius^ tab. 47. fig. E ; 

 Bonanniylib, ii. tab. 88; Seb. iii. tab. 86. fig. i; Argenville, tab. 23. 

 fig. E.; Born^ p. 80; DaCoJla^Concbyl. tab. 7. fig. 4; and Chemnitz., 

 vol. vii. tab. 9. fig. 495. Dampier calls them cockles ; he fays that 

 at firft he could get only fmall ones of ten pounds weight, but 



Vast Cham^. afterwards his men brought him a fingle fliell that weighed two 

 hundred and fifty-eight pounds, fo that the pair mull have 

 weighed five hundred and fixteen pounds, exclufive of the fifli, 

 which in fome weighs thirty pounds. This is efteemed very good 

 flawed, and, with the Sago bread cf thefe illands, may at any 

 time be a lure relief to navigators. By reafon of the fize of thefe 

 Ihells, it is unfafe to attempt taking them into a fmall canoe : 

 the method of managing them in fuch circumftances, is to put a 

 -pole into the gaping fliell, which inllantly clofes, and holds fo 

 faft that it may be drawn up to the furface of the water ; the 

 filh, on being ftabbed with a cutlafs, dies immediately, and may 

 be taken out, and the Ihells dropped into the fea. M. Da Cojla 



fay& 



