withftanding there were many herds of deer upon the place, yet
the difficulty of penetrating the woods prevented our coming near
them ; fo that though we faw them often, we killed only two during
our ftay. Our prifoners affined us, that this Ifland abounded
with tygers; and we did once difcover the print o f atyger's paw
upon the beach, but the tygers themfelves. we never faw. The
Spaniards too informed us, that here was frequently found m the
woods a mod mifchievous lerpent, called the flying fnake, which
they faid darted itfelf from the boughs of trees on either man or
beaft that came within its reach ; and whofe fling, they believed ta
be inevitable death. Befides thefe dangerous land animals, the fea
hereabouts is infefted with great numbers of alligators of an extraordinary
fize : And we often obferved a large kind of flat-fiffi,
lumping a conflderable height out of the water, which we fup-
pofed to be the filh that is faid frequently to deftroy the pearl-
divers, by clafping them in its fins as they rife from the bottom;
and we were told that the divers, for their fecurity, are now al-
wavs armed with a fharp knife, which, when they have entangled,
they flick into the belly of the filh, and thereby difengage themfelves
from its embraces. ; ,.
Whilft the Chip continued here at anchor, the Commodore, attended
by fome of his officers, went in a boat to examine a bay which
lay to the northward; and they afterwards ranged all along the eaft-
ern fide of the 'ifland. And in the places where they put ®n Ihore
in the courfe o f this expedition, they generally found the foil to be
extremely rich, and met with great plenty of excellent water. In
particular, near the N. E. point of the Ifland, they difcovered a natural
cafcade, which furpaffed, as they conceived, every thing of
this kind, which human art or induftry hath hitherto produced. It
was a river of tranfparent water, about forty yards wide, which rolled
down a declivity of near a hundred and fifty in length. The
channel it fell in was very irregular; for it was entirely compofed
o f rock, both its fides and bottom being made up of large detached
blocks • and by thefe the courfe of the water was frequently mter-
' F f rupted