2 L I E U T E N A N T C O O K ’ s V O Y A G E
1768. Chickens, and which they fuppofe to be the forerunners of
September.^ ^ fl-orm. ancj on the next day we had a very hard gale, which
rhurflay *. ^roUgilt us under our courfes, wafhed over-board a fmall
boat belonging to the Boatfwain, and drowned three or four
dozen of our poultry, which we regretted ftill more.
FHday*. On Friday the 2d of September we faw land, between
Cape Einifter and Cape Ortegal, an the coaft of Gallicia, in
Monday 5. Spain; and on the yth, by an obfervation of the fun and
moon, we found the latitude of Cape Finifter to be 42° 53'
North, and its longitude 8° 46'Weft, our firft meridian being
always fuppofed to pafs through Greenwich; variation of
the needle 210 4' W.
During this courfe, Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander had an
opportunity of obferving many marine animals,, of which no
naturalift has hitherto taken notice; particularly, a new fpecies
of the Onifcus, which was found adhering to the Medufa
Pdagica; ,-and an animal of an angular figure, about three
inches long, and one thick, with a hollow palling quite
through it,, and a brown fpot on one end, which they conjectured
might be its ftomach; four of thefe adhered together
by their fides when they were taken, fo that at firft
they were thought to be one animal, but upon being put
into a glafs; of water they foon fcparated, and fwam about
very brilkly. Thefe animals are of a new gentis, to which
Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander gave the name of Dagyfa, from
the likenefs of one fpecies of them to a gem : feveral fpe-
cimens of them were taken adhering, together fometimes to
the length of a yard or more, and flaming in the water with
very beautiful colours. Anöthër animal of a new genus
.they alfo difcovered, which, Ihone in the water with colours
ftill more beautiful and vivid, and which indeed exceeded in
•variety and brightnefs any thing that we had ever feen: the
«colouring and fplendour of thefe animals were equal to thofe
of
o f an Opal, and from their refemblance to that gem, the c >7CSgenus
was called Carcinium Opalinum, One of them lived »----,—
feveral hours in a glafs of fait water, fwimming about with
great agility, and at every motion difplaying achange of colours
almoft infinitely various. We caught alfo among the
rigging of the fhip, when we were at the diftance of about
ten leagues from Cape Finifter, feveral birds which have not
been defcribed by Linnaeus ; they were fuppofed to have come
from Spain, and our gentlemen called the fpecies Motacilla
’velificans, as they faid none but failors would venture them-
felves on board a fhip that was going round the worldr- one
of them was fo exhaufted that it died in Mr. Banks’s hand,
almoft as foon as it was brought to him.
It was thought extraordinary that no naturalifthad hitherto
taken notice of the Dagyfa, as the fea abounds with them not
twenty leagues from the coaft of Spain; but, unfortunately
for the caufe of fcience, there are but very few of thofe who.
traverfe the fea, that are either difpofed or qualified to remark
the curiofities of which Nature has made it the rfepo-
fitory.
On the 12th we difcovered the iflands of Porto Santo and- M0nd»y \ 2.
Madeira, and on the next day anchored in Funchiale road;
and moored with the ftream-anchor: but, in the night, the
bend of the hawfer of'the ftream-anchor flipped, owing to
the negligence of the perfon who had been employed to
make it fall. In the morning the anchor was heaved up into
the boat, and carried out to the fouthward ; but in heaving
it again, Mr. Weir, the Matter's Mate, was carried overboard
by the buoy-rope, and went to the bottom with the anchor;
the people in the fhip faw the accident, and got the anchor
up with all poflible expedition; it was however too late, the
body came up intangled in, the buoy-rope, but it was dead.'
V ql . II, B When