p.r e s e k - w a s k n o w n in various parts o f Europe feveraj centuries before the
“ J ™ difcovery o f America fey Chriftopher Columbus in 1493, . and it
n e r s . is particularly to be remarked that in the North o f .Germany: the
friars and monks were .ablerved ito difiemmate the evil more than
any other fet of people.' As this'learned and ingenious gentleman
intends to .communicate -to the public the refiilt of his enquiries,
which I have here the happinefs to announce, we fhall be farther-
convinced by irrefragable proofs, o f the fadts already afferted in the
Philofophical Tranfadions, vol. xxvii and xxx i. N “ - 365., i t .
I cannot omit here a circumftance which feefel us, and might
perhaps have proved fatal to many :of us, i f proper care had not
heen taken to prevent the ill confequences o f it. When we were
at anchor at Port Sandwich in Mallicollo, on the 23d o f July,
ryy4, our people caught in the -night two or three large reddifh
fife, which they immediately cleared o f the garbage and fcales,
and cut the belly and gills open, with feme o f the fins, fo that
when I got up in the morning I fufpeded them to be a new kind o f
fife, as we w e were, not able to defcribe orexamine them in this
mangled ftate: but as we hoped to flay many nights more in that
place, I expedted to obtain other fpecimens. for examination.}
however w e removed from that port the day after, without catching
another fife o f the fame kind. When we were at N ew
Caledonia, a failor caught another fife o f the fame fpecies during
the
the night, and had unfortunately thrown away the garbage, fcraped
the fcales, and cut away the gills and fins. Th e fcarcity o f frefe
food made this laft fife a defirable objedt, notwithftanding the eating
o f the former had Caufed very alarming fymptoms. The failor
therefore failed the fife, and let it hang three or. four days, and
then eat it In company with his meft.-mates, without feeling the
leafl bad effedts from this- imprudent flep. T h e fife had in its
mangled ftate a fimilarity . to the red gilthead (Sparus Pagrus, Linn.)
which is the more probable, fince Quiros obferved that his whole
feip’s crew were poifofied at the fame place by a fife, which he
■ called Pargo. * T h e fame night that the reddifh fifties were caught
at Mallicollo, feveral rock-fife, (jLabri) an Indian fucking-fifh,
(Ecieneis Neucrates) and. a feark nine feet long were likewife
caught and eaten that day, without caufing any alarming lymptoms.
When we came td New-Caledonia, a native killed at the mouth of
a frefh-water' fiver on the reef, a new cartilaginous fife p f the
genus: Called by Linnaeus Petroden. T h e Captain’s Clerk bought
it for the Captain, and after we had made a defcriptfen and ikelch
■ of it, it was ordered the1 next day for dinner. M y .fen as well as
myfelf told Capt. Cook- that we wfere o f opinion the fife was not
proper for food, as it belonged to a fufpieious daft } but the
4 N 2 Captain
* Dulrymple's Collection o f Voyages, vol, 1. p. 140, 141.
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