1690.] TEOPICK OF CAPEICORN. 21 



subjected to the same Law. The Captain was oblig'd to give 

 something to save the Beakhead of his Ship, the Seamen 

 alledging, 'twas their Eight to cut off the Boats Nose else. 

 The Money the Men got by it, was laid up to be spent on the 

 whole Crew when opportunity offer'd. Every Nation prac- 

 tices this ridiculous Custom after a different Manner. 



We kept on a straight course towards the Isles of Martin 

 Vas} which are in 20 Degrees South Latitude, and we bad 

 the Captain put in there, that we might go a-shoar and visit 

 them according to our Orders. He having no design to touch 

 there, reply'd. That the Eound-top of our Fore-Mast was half 

 broken, and we should have a great deal of trouble to make 

 those Islands, because we must go near the Wind, and tack 

 all the Way: He therefore chang'd his Course, notwith- 

 standing all our Entreaties to the contrary, and the Contempt 

 we shew'd for his false and trivial Eeasons. Thus we made 

 the Cape of the Island of Tristan d'Acugna, which is in 37 

 Deg. of South Latitude. 



The 10th of December we past the Tropick of Capricorn, 

 and enter'd the Southern Temperate Zone. 



The loth Ave were \asited by several Birds, there were 

 abundance of those which are call'd Great Gullets, and which 

 rather shou'd have the name of great Craws,^ on account of 

 their great hanging Breasts. They are almost as big as a 

 Goose, are very tall, but neither handsom nor good to eat; their 

 Elesh being tough, and having a strange Tast. Their Heads 

 are big, their Beaks long and sharp, their Bodies white, their 



1 Trinidad and Martin Vas form a small but remarkable group of 

 rocky islets near the usual track of sailing vessels bound for the Cape, 

 in lat. 20° 30' S., long. 29° 21' W. The Martin Vas rocks lie twenty- 

 six miles from Trinidad ; they are three in number, and the largest is 

 visible thirty miles off. 



2 In the print of the French edition it is named Grand Gosiei\ a well- 

 known French name for a pelican ; but Leguat's figure, entitled The 

 Great Throat, seems to represent a heron of some kind. It is impossible 

 to specify the bird. 



