PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
133 
slant, with beautiful green plumage like a parrot. A blue kind 
of paroquet A bird resembling a lark, and a 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 pro¬ 
minent and black. 
Fish were not caught in abundance either by the natives 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 num¬ 
bers of albacores, or, as they are sometimes called, (and are so 
called by the natives) cavallas which were in constant pursuit of 
shoals of small fish not dissimilar in their appearance to the an¬ 
chovy. Of this small kind of fish, the boys uf the ship caught 
great numbers with a kind of scoop net along side of the frigate. 
A small red fish, rather longer and thicker than the finger, was 
frequently brought to me by the natives and was remarkable for 
its delicacy. Several other kind of fish, some resembling apearch 
in form and size, and some shaped like the pargee, but with va¬ 
riegated colours, were also brought; but I 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 ca¬ 
noes and forming a semi-circle, by splashing with their paddles, 
hallooing, and jumping over board, 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 men¬ 
tioned, 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. 
