NOV. 1768 BRAZILIAN FISHERMEN 23 
Dr. Solander and I went on board this boat, in which 
were eleven men (nine of whom were blacks), who all fished 
with lines. We bought the chief part of their cargo, consisting 
of dolphins, two kinds of large pelagic scombers, sea bream, 
and the fish called in the West Indies Welshman, for which 
they made us pay nineteen shillings and sixpence. We had 
taken Spanish silver with us, which we imagined was the 
currency of the country; we were therefore not a little 
surprised that they asked us for English shillings, and 
preferred two, which we by accident had, to the pistereens, 
though after some words they took them also. The business 
of the people seemed to consist in going a good distance 
from land and catching large fish, which they salted in bulk, 
in the middle of their boat, which was arranged for that 
purpose. They had about two quintals of fish, laid in salt, 
which they offered for sale for sixteen shillings, and would 
doubtless have taken half the money had we been inclined to 
buy them; but fresh provisions were all we wanted, and 
the fresh fish which we bought served for the whole ship’s 
company. 
Their provisions for the sea consisted of a cask of water 
and a bag of the flour of cassada, which they call Farinha 
de Pao, or wooden flour,a very proper name for it, as indeed 
it tastes more like powdered chips than anything else. 
Their method of drinking from their cask was truly 
primitive and pleased me much: the cask was large, as 
broad as the boat, and exactly fitted a place made for it in 
the ballast; they consequently could not get at the bottom 
of it to put in a tap by which the water might be drawn 
out. To remedy this difficulty they made use of a cane 
about three feet long, hollow, and open at each end, this the 
man who wanted to drink desired his neighbour to fill for 
him, which he did by putting it into the cask, and laying 
the palm of his hand over the uppermost end, prevented 
the water from running out of the lower, to which the 
drinker applied his mouth, and the other man taking away 
his hand, let the liquor run into the drinker’s mouth till he 
was satisfied. 
