272 AUSTRALIA CHAP, xi 



On the shoals and sandbanks near the shore of the bay 

 were many large birds, far larger than swans, which we 

 judged to be pelicans ; but they were so shy that we could 

 not get within gun-shot of them. On the shore were many 

 birds ; one species of bustard, of which we shot a single bird, 

 was as large as a good turkey. The sea seemed to abound in 

 fish, but unfortunately, at the first haul, we tore our seine to 

 pieces. On the mud-banks, under the mangrove trees, were 

 innumerable oysters, hammer-oysters, and many more sorts, 

 among which were a large proportion of small pearl-oysters. 

 Whether the sea in deeper water might abound with as 

 great a proportion of full-grown ones, we had not an 

 opportunity to examine ; but if it did, ^a pearl fishery here 

 must turn out to immense advantage. 



24:th. At daybreak we went to sea. At dinner we ate 

 the bustard we shot yesterday. It turned out an excellent 

 bird, far the best, we all agreed, that we had eaten since we 

 left England ; and as it weighed fifteen pounds, our dinner 

 was not only good but plentiful. 



26th. We tried in the cabin to fish with hook and line, 

 but the water was too shoal (three fathoms) for any fish. 

 This want was, however, in some degree supplied by crabs, of 

 which vast numbers were on the ground, who readily took 

 our baits, and sometimes held them so fast with their claws, 

 that they suffered themselves to be hauled into the ship. 

 They were of two sorts, Cancer pelagicus, Linn., and another 

 much like the former, but not so beautiful. The first was 

 ornamented with the finest ultramarine blue conceivable, 

 with which all his claws, and every joint, were deeply tinged. 

 The under part was of a lovely white, shining as if glazed, and 

 perfectly resembling the white of old china. The other 

 had a little of the ultramarine on his joints and toes, 

 and on his back three very remarkable brown spots. 



In examining a fig which we had found at our last 

 going ashore, we found in the fruit a Cynips, very like, 

 if not exactly the same species as Cynips sycomori, Linn., 

 described by Hasselquist in his Iter Palestinum, a strong 

 proof of the fact that figs must be impregnated by means 





