272 AUSTRALIA CHAP. XI 
On the shoals and sandbanks near the shore of the bay 
were many large birds, far larger than swans, which we 
judged to be pelicans; but they were so shy that we could 
not get within gun-shot of them. On the shore were many 
birds; one species of bustard, of which we shot a single bird, 
was as large as a good turkey. The sea seemed to abound in 
fish, but unfortunately, at the first haul, we tore our seine to 
pieces. On the mud-banks, under the mangrove trees, were 
innumerable oysters, hammer-oysters, and many more sorts, 
among which were a large proportion of small pearl-oysters. 
Whether the sea in deeper water might abound with as 
great a proportion of full-grown ones, we had not an 
opportunity to examine; but if it did, a pearl fishery here 
must turn out to immense advantage. 
24th. At daybreak we went to sea. At dinner we ate 
the bustard we shot yesterday. It turned out an excellent 
bird, far the best, we all agreed, that we had eaten since we 
left England; and as it weighed fifteen pounds, our dinner 
was not only good but plentiful. 
26th. We tried in the cabin to fish with hook and line, 
but the water was too shoal (three fathoms) for any fish. 
This want was, however, in some degree supplied by crabs, of 
which vast numbers were on the ground, who readily took 
our baits, and sometimes held them so fast with their claws, 
that they suffered themselves to be hauled into the ship. 
They were of two sorts, Cancer pelagicus, Linn., and another 
much like the former, but not so beautiful. The first was 
ornamented with the finest ultramarine blue conceivable, 
with which all his claws, and every joint, were deeply tinged. 
The under part was of a lovely white, shining as if glazed, and 
perfectly resembling the white of old china. The other 
had a little of the ultramarine on his joints and toes, 
and on his back three very remarkable brown spots. 
In examining a fig which we had found at our last 
going ashore, we found in the fruit a Cynips, very like, 
if not exactly the same species as Cynips sycomori, Linn., 
described by Hasselquist in his Jter Palestinum, a strong 
proof of the fact that figs must be impregnated by means 
