304 LETTER XL 



Colour ; and that, if one of thefe laft alights (as 

 they now and then do) upon a Ship's Yard- Arm, 

 it will ftand there till a Sailor can climb up and 

 catch it with his hands, it all the while pecking 

 and fcreaming out, but not offering to fly away, 

 which defervedly gained for it the name of Booby. 

 We have a fmall rocky Iiland between the Wind- 

 ward part of Nevis^ and the Windward part of 

 St. Cbrijlopher's, called Booby Ifland, from their 

 building Nefls upon it. TV". B. I was never very 

 clofe to any of thefe Birds. The Women oi An- 

 giiilla (an inconfiderable Ifland, fcarce a Day's 

 Sail Leeward from Nevis) do cufl:omarily go 

 once a year to another lefs and barren Ifland, 

 (called Prickle Pear^ becaufe nothing elfe will 

 grow thereon,) in order to ftrip the Birds of their 

 Feathers, which poor Creatures are fo Ample as 

 to fuffer the Women to knock them down with 

 Sticks as they fly about : It is fomewhat fl:range, 

 that repeated experience does not teach them wit 

 enough to keep farther off from fuch dangerous 

 Enemies. I twice failed along clofe by this Ifland, 

 in both of which times I faw vafl: numbers of 

 thefe Birds (that were feemingly bigger than 

 Pigeons) hovering about it ; I do not remember 

 their Name. None of the above-mentioned kinds 

 of Birds are eatable. N. B, Ajiguilla is fo called, 

 becaufe it is a long narrow Ifland, refembling 

 the form of a Snake. 



6. About 



