.1770. ever, is plentifully fupplied -with two kinds of deer, and
1 _ _ wild hogs, which are fold at a reafonable price by the Por-
tuguefe, who fhoot them, and are very good food.
Among the mountains, and in the defart parts of the
ifland, there are tygers, it is faid, in great abundance, and
fome rhinocerofes ; in thefe parts alfo there are monkies,
.and there are a few of them even in the neighbourhood of
Batavia.
Of fifh, here is an amazing plenty; many forts are excellent,
and all are very cheap, except the few that are fcarce.
It happens here, as in other places, that vanity gets the
better even of appetite: the cheap fifh, moft of which is of
the bell kind, is the food only of Haves, and that which is
dear, only becaufe it is fcarce, and very much inferior in
every refpefl, is placed upon the tables of the rich. A fen-
fible houfekeeper once fpoke to us freely upon the fubjeft.
I know, faid he, as well as you, that I could purchafe a
better difh o f fifh for a Hulling, than what now coftsme ten;
but if I fhould make fo good a ufe of my money, I fhould
here be as much defpifed, as you would be in Europe, if you
were to cover your table with offals, fit only for beggars or
,dogs.
Turtle is alfo found here, but it Is neither fo fweet nor fo
fat as the Weft Indian turtle, even in London ; fuch as it is,
however, we fhould confider it as a dainty; but the Dutch,
among other Angularities, do not eat it. We faw fome lizards,
or Iguanas, here of a very large fize; we were told
that fome were as thick as a man’s thigh, and Mr. Banks fhot
one that was five feet long: the flefli of this animal, proved
to be very good food.
Poultry is very good here, and in great plenty : fowls of
a very large fize, ducks, and geefe are very cheap; pigeons
are dear, and the price of turkies extravagant. We fometimes
found’ the flelh of thefe animals lean and dry, but this 1---- ,----
was merely the effedt of their being ill fed, for thofe that we
fed ourlelves were as- good, as any of the fame kind that we
had tailed in Europe, and we fometimes thought them even-
better.
Wild fowl in general is fcarce; We once law a wild duck
in the fields, but never any that were to be fold. We frequently
faw fnipes of two kinds, one of them exadlly the
fame as that in Europe, and a kind of thrufll was always to
be had in great plenty of the Portuguefe, who, for I know
not what reafon, feem to have monopolized the wild fowl
and game. Of fnipes, it is remarkable that they arc found
i-n more parts of the world than any other bird, being conv
mon almoft all over Europe, Afia, Africa* and America.
With refpedt to drink, Nature has not been quite fo liberal!
to the inhabitants of Java as to fome whom fhe has placed in
the lefs fruitful regions of the north. The native Javanefe,.
and moft of the other Indians who inhabit this illand, are'
indeed Mahometans, and therefore have no reafon to regret
the want of wine; but, as if the prohibition of their law
refpefted only the manner of becoming drunk, and not"
drunkennefs itfelf, they chew opium, to the total fubverfiom
not only of their underftanding but their health.
The arrack that is made here, is too well known to need aa
defeription: befides which, the palm yields a wine of the:
fame kind with that which has already been deferibed in the-
account of the ifland of Savu ; it is procured from the fame-
tree, in the fame manner, and is fold in three Hates. The-
firft, in which it is called Tuac manife, differs little from that
in which it comes, from the tree; yet even this has received
S fome-
1