d|j|j rate of three knots and a half at this time, f6 that it was-
not thought proper to bring to, for the fake of taking up
the dead fiffi.
WidMfday9. An infinite number of albatroffes.of a ll the three fpecies,
hovered about us, after we were out of fight of the land.
The common or large fort were of diverfe colours, which
we believed to differ according to age, and that the oldfcft
were almofl wholly white, thofe next them fomewhat more
fprinkled with brown, and the youngeft'quite brown. Some
of our fail'ors, who had formerly failed'on board' of Eaft-
India fhips, after comparing the facility of' thofe voyages-to
the hardfliips of the prefent, propagated the ludicrous idea
among their meflmates, that thefe birds contained the departed
fouls of old India captains ; who now, exiled to a'
part of the ocean which they fhunned before, were forced
to gather a precarious fubfiftenee inftead of enjoying their
former affluence, and'were made the fport of ftorms which
they had never felt in their cabbins. This ftroke, which
may pafs for witty enough, confirms what I have before
obferved of the original humour of fea-faring men..
The officers, who could not yet relifh their fait provi-
fions, after the refreffiments of New Zeeland, hadordered
their black dog, mentioned p. i 33, to be killed, and fent
the captain one half of i t ; this day therefore-we dined for
the firft time on a leg of it roafted, which tailed fo exactly.
Like mutton, that it was abfolutely undiftinguifhable. In:
our:
our cold countries where animal food is fo much ufed,
and where to be carnivorous perhaps lies in the nature of
men, or is indifpenfibly neceflary to the prefervation of
their health and flrength, it is flrange that there ffiould
exift a Jewifh averfion to dogs-flefli, when hogs, the mofl
uncleanly of all animals are eaten without fcruple. Nature
feems exprefsly to have intended them for this ufe,
hy making their offspring fo very numerous, and their
encreafe fo quick and frequent. It may be objeifled, that
the exalted degree .of inftindt, which we obferve in our
dogs, infpires us with great unwillingnefs to kill and eat
them. But it is owing to the time we fpend on the education
of dogs, that they acquire thofe eminent qualities
which attach them fo much to us. The natural qualities
of our dogs may receive a wonderful improvement, but
education muft give its affiflance, without which the
human mind itfelf, though capable of an immenfe expan-
fion, remains in a very contracted ftate. • In New Zeeland,
and (according to former accounts of voyages) in the tropical
ifl.es of the South Sea, the dogs are the mofl flupid, dull
animals imaginable, and do not feem to have the leaf!
advantage in point of fagacity over our ffieep, which are
commonly made the emblems of fillinefs. In the former
country they are fed upon fifh, in the latter on vegetables,
and both thefe diets may have ferved to alter their
difpofitiori. Education may perhaps likewife graft new
H h 2 in