1770 FISH FOWLS VEGETABLES 389 



cheapest sorts, wondered much at seeing them the food of 

 none but slaves. On inquiry, however, of a sensible house- 

 keeper, he told us that he, as well as we, knew that for one 

 shilling he could purchase a better dish of fish than he did 

 for ten. " But," said he, " I dare not do it, for should it be 

 known that I did so, I should be looked upon in the same 

 light as one in Europe who covered his table with offal fit 

 for nothing but beggars or dogs." Turtle is here also 

 in abundance, but despised by Europeans ; indeed, for what 

 reason I know not, it is neither so sweet nor so fat as our 

 West Indian turtle, even in England. They have also a 

 kind of large lizard or iguana, some of which are said to be 

 as thick as a man's thigh. I shot one about five feet long, 

 and it proved very good meat. 



Poultry is prodigiously plentiful; very large fowls, 

 ducks, and geese are cheap; pigeons are rather dear and 

 turkeys extravagant. In general, those we ate at Batavia 

 were lean and dry, but this I am convinced proceeds from 

 their being ill-fed, as I have eaten every kind there as good 

 or better than commonly met with in Europe. 



Wild fowl are in general scarce. I saw during my stay 

 one wild duck in the fields, but never one to be sold. 

 Snipe, however, of two kinds, one exactly the same as in 

 Europe, and a kind of thrush, are plentifully sold every day 

 by the Portuguese, who, for I know not what reason, seem 

 to monopolise the wild game. 



Nor is the earth less fruitful of vegetables than she is of 

 animals. Eice, which everybody knows is to the inhabitants 

 of these countries the common corn, serving instead of 

 bread, is very plentiful : one kind of it is planted here, and 

 in many of the eastern islands, which in the western parts 

 of India is totally unknown. It is called by the natives 

 paddy gunang, that is, mountain rice; this, unlike the 

 other sort, which must be under water three parts of the 

 time of its growth, is planted upon the sides of hills, where 

 no water but rain can possibly come. They take, however, 

 the advantage of planting it in the beginning of the rainy 

 season, by which means they reap it in the beginning of the 



