Cap.XVL TfoCaribby-Iflands. 97 



Guiny. as Unseat reporteth : It is the wonderful inftincf which 

 God hathbeftow'd on all the fmaller forts of Birds in America^ 

 tp preferve their fpecies ; inafmuoh as there being in the 

 Woods a kind of long Snakes green and fmall, wl ich'crawling 

 up the Trees might wriggling themfeives from branch to 

 branch devour the egges of the Birds, which they are exrream- 

 ly greedy of: to prevent the coming of thefe to their nefts, all 

 the lefler Birds, which are not fo well beaked as to make their 

 party good againft thefe enemies, make their neftsat the fork- 

 ed endof certain fmall filaments, which like Ivy growing on 

 the ground crawl up the Threes, and being come to the top, 

 and not able to get any higher, fall down again, arid fometimes 

 reach two or three fathom below the branches. At the very 

 extremity of thefe ligaments or filaments, by the French called 

 ifeaex, the Birds fatten their nefts with fuch ftrength and in- 

 duftry 5 that a man cannot fnfficiently admire either the materi- 

 alsor workmanftlip of thofe little hanging edifices. The Par- 

 rots and other ftronger Birds make their nefts in hollow Trees 5 

 or upon the boughs, as thofe in thefe parts do 5 for with the of- 

 feofive arms of their beaks and claws they are able to engage 

 their profed'd enemies the Snakes. 



nr.";: 939fJj i A : • . • J n : : ... . 



; ' CHAP. XVI. 



Of the Seaatid River -Fijh of the Caribbies. 



WE (hall not promife foexad and full a Hiftory of the 

 Fifth of thefe Iflands as fo ample a fubjtct might re- 

 quire: but having already given an account of the 

 accotnmodations of thefe happy Countries, as to the Land, the 

 order of cur Defign requires that we mould now fpeak of the 

 produ^ibns of the Sea which encompafs them, and the Rivers 

 that run through them. The bufinefs therefore of this Chap- 

 ter (hall be to give a ftiort defcription of the moft excellent 

 Tithes wherewith they are plentifully furnilh'd, in order to the 

 fubfiftatace of men $ that the consideration thereof may work 

 in us the deepeft acknowledgments imaginable of that Provi- 

 dence which hath difplay'd its miracles in the deep waters, as 

 Well as on the dry land 5 and confequently that it is juft that the 

 Heavens and the Earth ftiould praife him, the Sea and whatever 

 moves therein. 



O 



FIXING- 



