80 AN ACCOUNT OP THE 



quer.tly picked up on the llipre of thefe iflands, and 

 having been informed that one of thefe fhells with its 

 £ih in it woLdd be acceptable at home, I offered the 

 Piatives their own terms to procure me one, but they 

 all affured me that it was abfolutely out of their power 

 to comply with my wiflies ; that the Ihell is frequently 

 driven on the fliorc, but always empty ; that it comes 

 from the fea, and is not to be found on the rocks, and 

 that no one on the ifland had ever feen one on the 

 ifiand had ever feen one of the fhells in the ftate I re- 

 quired. 



I POUND here fpecies of cockle, the fliell of which 

 was enclofed in the moft folid kind of coral rock ; tlie 

 aperture of the rock was futlicient to permit the fhell 

 of the cockle to open in fome degree, but two fmall 

 to permit removing it v.'ithout breaking the rock. 

 Havino* found them of different lizes, and it bein^ 

 / a fpecies of the Keemoo which grows to a very large 

 lize^ it fhould ieem that the cavity of the rock en- 

 creafcs as the fifh grows If, according to Mr. Hun- 

 ter's theory, the animal has a power of abforbing 

 part of its own fhell, this power may perhaps extend 

 to the rock which contains it, and whole fubftance is 

 Qf a limilar nature. 



Near the entrance of the ftraits of See Cochip o^ 

 the northern ifland, are a few houfes inhabited by 

 fome Malays from Fort Marlbrough^ the place is called 

 l\ongoo : thefe people refide here for the purpofe o^ 

 building large boats^, called Chiineahs, the timber and 

 planks for which are found clofe at hand. Among 

 thefe Malays I found one intelligent man, who had 

 refided two years at this place, during which he had 

 acquired a competent knowledge of the language 

 of the natives. I had alfo brought an interpre- 

 ter with me who fpoke the language fome time 

 at Fadang, a Dutch fettlemcnt on the Weft Coaft of 

 Sumatra, where he had acquired fome know[edge 

 of the Malay tongue ; by means of thefe people 

 1 was at no lofs for cO.mmunication with the natives, 



and 



