Book IX, Iand of BARBADOS. 
B'O.O K; IX. 
rel Ue FE feveral foregoing Books being taken up in confider~ 
€: Les ing the Nature of our Land-Animals, Vegetables and Mi- 
nerals, I {hall proceed to make fome Remarks on the 
x Shores and its Inhabitants ; firft curforily obferving, that 
thofe are (a few Bays excepted) intirely invironed with high 
Cliffs, from three to fixty Feet high ; which, under Provi- 
dence, are in a.great meafure, our Bulwarks againft our Enemies, as well 
as fix’d Boundaries to the raging of the Sea in the Time of Hurricanes, 
As far as the Sea in moderate Weather wafhes them, they are almoft 
one continued Rock from thence upwards; they are in fome Places (ef- 
pecially at the North End of the Parith of St. Lucy’s) fomewhat thattered 
and divided, by Veins of gritty Marl, Earth and loomy Chalk ; likewife 
all the Stones found on the Shores (except a few Flints on a Place called 
the Green-Shoal) are of the Afterites-Kind ; and the Sand (except in a 
few deep Bays) feems, ‘in a great meafure, to be only Fragments of Star- 
{tones and Corals. to 
The feveral Cavities in the Cliffs. facing the Sea, are proper Dens for 
Racoons, and fuch like wild Beafts. They are likewife a Place of 
Safety for feveral Sea-birds to breed in, efpecially, at a Place called the 
Bird-rock; where are to be feen,-at moft Times of the Year, a great 
many of their Nefts and Eggs: The young ones are fharp-bill’d, web- 
footed, and very fat, but tafte fifhy. The old ones are feldom or ever 
{een in the Day-time; for they are obliged to range to fo great a Diftance 
from the Shore for Food, that they have been {een Scores of Miles: from 
Land ; yet they dire& their Courfe, in the darkeft Night, with a fur- 
prizing Exactnefs, to their refpective Nefts, 
S{f The 
