beautiful white bird with black legs and bill, and web- 

 footed, which is seen frequently hovering over and lighting 

 on the trees. This must certainly be an aquatic bird, from 

 its being web-footed, yet I never saw it frequent the water, 

 although it generally kept about the trees, low down in the 

 valley. Nothing can exceed the whiteness and delicacy 

 of the feathers of this bird ; its body is not larger than that 

 of a snipe ; its wings are long, and apparently intended for 

 a great flight; its head is large, and rather disproportioned 

 to its size, and its eyes are prominent and black. 



Fish were not caught in abundance, either by the na- 

 tives or ourselves ; our constant occupations did not admit 

 of our devoting much time to that object, and their mode 

 of fishing might not have succeeded so well as ours. We 

 saw in the bay vast numbers of albacores, or, as they are 

 sometimes called, (and are so called by the natives,) caval- 

 las, which were in constant pursuit of shoals of small fish- 

 not dissimilar in their appearance to the anchovy. Of this 

 small kind of fish, the boys of the ship caught great num- 

 bers with a kind of scoop net, alongside of the frigate. A 

 small red fish, rather longer and thicker than the finger, 

 was frequently brought to me by the natives, and was re- 

 markable for its delicacy. Several other kinds of fish, 

 some resembling a perch in form and size, and some shaped 

 like the pargee, but with variegated colours, were also 

 brought. But 1 never at any time saw a large fish which 

 had been taken by them except a devil fish. This last- 

 mentioned fish, with sharks and porpoises, frequent the bay : 

 the manner of catching the latter is truly surprising. 

 When a shoal comes in, they get outside of them with 

 * their canoes, and forming a semi-circle, by splashing with 

 their paddies, hallooing, and jumping overboard, so alarm 

 the fish, that they push for shoal water, and thence to the 

 beach, where the natives pursue and take them. In this 

 manner whole shoals are caught. 



^This island, besides the fruit and vegetables already 

 mentioned, produces a fruit somewhat resembling a large 

 bean. While in the pod, and when roasted, its taste is like 

 that of a chesnut; it grows on a tree of moderate height, 

 but is not abundant. 



An apple, in shape, and nearly in colour resembling a 

 red pepper-— it is a<jueous and cooling, but rather insipid; 



