After our unfuccefsful attempt to engage the people of the country
to furnilh us with the neceffaries we wanted, we defifted from
any more endeavour's of the fame nature, and were obliged to be
contented with what we could procure for ourfelves in the neighbourhood
of the port. We caught fi(h here in tolerable quantities,
efpeeially when the fmoothnefs of the water permitted us to hale
the feyne. Amongft the reft we got cavallies, breams, mullets,
foies, fiddle-filh, fea-eggs, and lobfters : And we here, and in no
other place, met with that extraordinary fifh called the Torpedo,
or numbing fifh, which is in fhape very like the fiddle-filh, and
is not to be known from it but by a brOwn circular fpot, of about
the bignefs o f a crown piece, near the Center o f its back. Perhaps
its figure wilf.be better underftood, when I fay it is a flat
filh, much refembling the thorn-back. This filh, the Torpedo,
is indeed of a moll Angular nature, productive of the ftrangeft
effects on the human body : For whoever handles it, or happens
even to fet his foot upon it, is prefently feized with a numbnefs
all over him ; but which is more diftinguilhable, in that limb
which was in immediate contaft with it. The fame effeCt too
will be, in fome degree, produced by touching the filh with any
thing held in the hand ; fince I myfelf had a confiderable degree
o f numbnefs conveyed to my right arm, through a walking cane
which I relied on the body of the filh for a Ihort time only; and
I make no doubt but I (hould have been much more fenfibly affected,
had not the filh been near expiring when I made the experiment
j as .it is obfervable, that this influence aCts with molt
vigour upon the filh’s being firft taken out of the water, and entirely
ceafes as foon as it is dead, fo that it may be then handled or
even eaten without any inconvenience. I fhall only add, that the
numbnefs of my arm upon this occafion did not go off on a fud-
den, as the accounts o f fome Naturalifts gave me reafon to expeft,
but diminilhed gradually, fo that I had fome fenfation of it remaining
till the next day.
To
To the account given of the filh we met with here, I mull add,
that though turtle now grew fcarce, and we found none in this
harbour of Chequetan, yet our boats, which were ftationed off Pe-
taplan, often fupplied us therewith; and though this was a food
that we had been long as it were confined to, (fince it was the
only frelh provifions which we had tailed during near fix months)
yet we were far from being cloyed with it, or from finding that
the relilh we had for it at all diminilhed.
The animals we met with on Ihore were principally guanos^
with which the country abounds, and which are by fome reckoned
delicious food. We faw no beads of prey here, except we Ihould
efteem that amphibious animal, the alligator, as fuch, feveral of
which our people dilcovered, but none of them very large. However,
we were fatisfied that there were great numbers of tygers in
the woods, though none of them came in fight; for we every
morning found the beach near the watering place imprinted very
thick with their footfteps : But we never apprehended any mif-
chief from them j fince they are by no means fo- fierce as the Afia-
tic or African tyger, and are rarely, i f ever known to attack mankind.
Birds were here in fufiicient plenty; for we had abundance
of pheafants of different kinds, fome of them of an uncommon fize,
but "they were all very dry and taftelefs eating. And befides thefe
we had a variety of fmaller birds, particularly parrots, which we
often killed for food.
The fruits and vegetable refrelbments at this place were neither
plentiful, nor of the bell kinds : There were, it is true, a few
bulhe.s fcattered about the wood«,, which fupplied us with limes,
but we fcarcely could procure enough for our prefent ufe : And
thefe, with a frn.all plumb, of an agreeable acid, called,in Jamaica
the Jalog^Pljimb, together with another fruit,called a Papah, were,
the only fruits to be found in the woods. Nor is there, any other
ufeful vegetable here worth mentioning, except brook-lime : This
indeed grew in great quantities near the frelh water hanks; and, as
M m z it