OF LA PBROUSE. ^53 



prcfcnce had made a few of them fly away j but 

 fevcral others lull remained with their long 

 claws deeply buried in the water, and were 

 waiting patiently for ibme fiih to come near 

 enough for them to fokse it. Thefe refervoirs 

 arc alio very much frequented by kingfifhers ; 

 Ibme of thefe were perched on the bamboos, and 

 we taw them from time to time dart at fifties, 

 which furniih them an abundance of food. 



We prcfently came to a point of land which 

 advanced riUnciently into the roadftcad to have 

 determined the Dutch to creel: here a redoubt. 

 It was at this time abandoned, as Well as another 

 which we perceived on the oppofite more, and 

 nearer the entrance of the road. We landed at 

 a little diitance from this flrit redoubt, and 

 thence we proceeded to the country-houfe of 

 M. Hoffman, the head furgeon to the hofpital, 

 with whom we were on terms of intimacy. 



After having made a hafty breakfaft, in which 

 fpices were fet before us in fuch profusion as 

 not to allow us to forget that we were at the 

 Moluccas, I went to vifit the environs of this 

 habitation, where, among a great number of 

 other plants, Ibme marfhy grounds prefented to 

 my view the beautiful fpecies of acanthus called 

 acanthus il'iclf alius, Linn, and its variety the acan- 

 thus integrifoliits, 



VOL. I. A A We 



