178 GUZMAN D'ALFARACHE. [1695. 



Eggs, especially when our Fisliing was not Prosperous, as we 

 could not expect it should be always. Altho' these Eggs were 

 many times ready to put forth their young, we toss'd them 

 up in a Fricassee, and crunch'd them between our Teeth, as 

 if they had been the best Dish in the World, though I know 

 some squeamish and scrupulous People^ would not have the 

 same Opinion of it. This Fricassee made me to think of the 

 famous G-uzman d'Alfarache,^ who complain'd that his Gutts 

 came up to his Teeth when he crak'd the Still-born Chicken- 

 Bones ; yet this Eemembrance did not at all disgust me, so 

 true the Proverb is, which I think I have made use of before, 

 tliat Hunger is the best Sauce,^ especially where that which 

 one eats is not bad, but thro' Opinion. There came also 

 upon our Rock divers other Birds, which we call'd Pluto's,'^ 

 because they were as black as Crows ; they had almost the 

 same size and form, only their Bills were longer, and hook'd 

 at the end. Their Feet were like those of a Duck. These 

 Birds remain six Months of the year at Sea, without being 



1 111 orig. : " encore qu'un pareil ragout fasse borreur a ceux dont la 

 cuisine se gouverue par la mode; & qui aiment ou n'ainient pas les 

 choses, selou le caprice de la coutume & du prejuge.'' 



2 Guzman d'Alfarache, a character in a Spanisb romance by Mateo 

 Aleman : Le Sage is said to have borrowed the Life of Gil Bias from 

 this prototype of a knave, stable boy, swindler, and merchant, 1599. 

 In the catalogue of books, sold by the publishers of the English version 

 of Leguat's Voyage, advertised at the end of the volume, appears 

 " The Life of Guzman D'Alfarache : To which is added the celebrated 

 Tragi-Comedy Casksiina, written in Spainsh by Mateo Aleman, done 

 into English from the new French version, and compar'd with the origi- 

 nal by several hands. Adorn'd with Sculptures by Caspar Bouttats in 

 two Volumes in octavo." 



3 Vide supra, p. 13, " il n'est sauce que d'appetit" (" There's no sauce 

 like a good stomach"). 



* Fou ov Fouquet; Pterodroma aterrima, Procellaria aterrima, black 

 petrel (Verreaux), would answer the description of the plutos, but it 

 is only known in Reunion. The birds here mentioned, Sir Edward 

 Newton says, are probably Ptiffinus chlororynclius^ which bred on the lie 

 aux Fouquets, one of the little islets near the Isle de la Passe, a few 

 years ago. {Vide supra, p. 81, et Appendix B.) 



