FOfeTER S JOURNAL. 



217 



for about three miles without experiencing much inconve- 

 nience, except from the intense heat of the sun, (from which 

 there is nothing to screen you but a few withered dwarf 

 trees, destitute of leaves,) and from occasionally falhng 

 into the holes made by the guanas in the loose cinders, 

 heated by the sun's rays. To these obstacles may be added, 

 occasionally encountering in your route beds of sharp lava. 

 To such as are bare-footed, or whose shoes are not re- 

 markably good, and provided with thick soles, this transition 

 from hot to sharp and from sharp to hot is equally desira- 

 ble, for either of the evils is so great that they cannot be 

 long borne at a time, and of the two it is difficult to say 

 which is the least. On my return to the beach from my 

 excursion, however, I discovered beauties that had before 

 escaped my notice. A verdant mangrove, which had shot 

 its branches into the sand, formed an arbour that afford- 

 ed an agreeable shade. After supplying ourselves with 

 seats from the stones in the neighbourhood, Mr. Adams 

 and myself made a hearty meal from the tortoises, cray-fish, 

 crabs, &c., that had been procured in the vicinity, for 

 which our promenade in the delightful grove of captain 

 Colnet had not a little contributed to give us a relish.^ 

 We met with great numbers of English mocking-birds, 

 hawks resembling the falcon, a considerable variety of 

 smaller birds, some resembling the small common sparrow, 

 some not unlike the brown Canary-bird, the small black 

 bird found in Charles' Island, and a black bird with a red 

 breast. We saw but few seals, and the only aquatic birds 

 we met with, were pelicans, boobies, and petrells. A few 

 small snakes were seen, much resembling the common 



*^ A.t every place where we landed on the western side, we might have 

 walked for miles through long grass, and beneath groves of trees. It only 

 wanted a stream to compose a very charming landscape. This isle appears 

 to have been a favourite resort of the buccaniers, as we not only found 

 seats, which had been made by them of earth and stone, but a considerable 

 number of broken jars scattered about, and some entirely whole, in which 

 the Peruvian wine and liquors of that country are preserved. We also 

 found some old daggers, nails, and other implements. This place is, in 

 every respect, calculated for refreshment or relief for crews, after a long 

 and tedious voyage, as it abounds with wood, and good anchorage for any 

 number of ships, and sheltered from all winds by Albemarle Isle. The 

 watering-place of the buccaniers was entirely dried up, and there was on- 

 ly found a small rivulet between two hills, running into the sea ; the 

 northernmost bill forms the south point of Fresh- Water Bay. 



ColneVs Journal, page 156, 



VOL I. 28 



