S68 J A M- A 1 C A. 



-^11. Amphibious. ' 



Manatti or fea cow [/>], 

 Hawk's-bill[^]l 

 Green > turtle, 



Terrapin 



Hecatee or land turtle' [r], 

 Thefe are more properly ter-|[j]'^Iountalii or black crab") with fome 



reftrial, or fub-amphibious. J Mangrove or white crab J varieties. 



. « .■ 



312. Shell-Fish. 



Mangrove oyfter [/], Engliih bank oyderju], 



Flat or bank oyfler [/], -----.-. 



.' i'lAii . 



[p] It tafles as well as looks like very white veal, but the (kin has the ranknefs of pork. It 

 is beil falted. 



[y] The fhell of the hawk's-bill, and the flelh of the green turtle, are their refpeftive ex- 

 cellencies. The gieen, of fifty to eighty pounds weight, is in the higheft repute; but both are 

 now fo commonly known in England, that it would be fuperfluous to fay more of them, except 

 the remarkable circiimftance of their being drell in Jamaica in a plainer manner, and with Icfs 

 fauce or fealbning, than in England. 



[)■] Some of thefe have been known to live thirty years. 



[j] In December and January they begin to be in fpawn, and are then extremely fat and 

 delicious ; they continue in feafon till May, at which time they begin to call their eggs, and to 

 lofe their richnefs and flavour; they difcharge their eggs into the furf, and then returji to the 

 mountains ; about July and Auguft, they begin to grow fat again, and prepare tor changing their 

 ihell^ how this operation i: performed, feems not to be certainly known ; but as foon as the old 

 covering is difcharged, they are in the richeft llatc, being cloathed only with a tender membranous 

 fkin, which gradually hardens afterwards into a perfeft (hell. During this change, there are 

 ftony concretions always formed in the llomach or bag of this creature, which wafte and diflblve, 

 as it forms and perfcds its new cruft. 



The white crabs arc not fo much efteeraed, and are chiefly eaten by the Negroes. Till late 

 years the black crabs fwarmcd fo amazingly in fome parts of the North fide, that the inhabitants 

 ufed to deftroy millions of them every year, in order to extraft an oil from them for their lamps ; 

 a praiflice, which every admirer of this exquiCte dainty, concurs in pronouncing a burmTtg 

 Jhame. 



[/J Thefe are much fmaller than the European, but extremely delicate, and not at all inferior 

 to the Colchclkr. They do not only faflen u^xm the mangrove roots, but any other fubftance. 

 I have feen a quart bottle taken out of the water entirely covered with them. The flat oyfler 

 comes very near the vegetable kingdom ; it flioots out Icveral prongs refembling the fibres of a 

 foot, by which it is fixed ; this latter fort is unwholfome at certain times ot the year. 



[»] Thefe are the defeendants of a parcel imported from Europe by a gentleman of Vere 

 •many years ago ; but they feem to have degenerated. Tliofc of Panama, or Florida, would pro- 

 b.ii)ly anfwcr better. 



Sea- 



