April. Be that, however, as it may; they all in the mean while feemed highly deferring of rich and good huibands,' as well for their courage and refolution in venturing upon the ocean, as for many other fine qualities they were pof- fieffed of. As they wei'e always in the company and under the care o f fome refpedtable married lady, nobody feemed to harbour the leaft doubt of their good conduit. On this occafion, the following anecdote deferves to be mentioned; One of the ladies, who had fome time before pafled by the Cape, had been fent for to be married to a certain governor. He, as foon as ilie arrived, was for performing his engagements immediately ; but the lady pofitively refufed, and finally gave as a reafon for her conduit, that fhe did not chufe to deceive him; for during her voyage, fire had betrothed herfelf to the captain o f the ihip, who however was bafe enough to retrait his promife, although fhe feared that their conneition had been produitive of .certain difagreeable confequences. The governor repaid her franknefs by the moft generous conduit; and was not at all furprized that fhe fhould rather give her hand to a young fellow, who had befides had the advantage of being on the fpot, than wait in uncertainty for an elderly man who was an abfolute ftranger to her, and was moreover’ at a diftanee from her. He therefore married her himfelf without hefitation, after having in vain endeavoured to perfuade her falfe lover to take this ftep. The little ifland of Malagas in Falfe-bay, is particularly reforted to by penguins and feals; and although Robben (or Seal Ifland) otherwife called Penguin Ifland in fable-bay, bears the name o f thefe latter animals, y e t th e y are feldom found c a p e o f G o o d h o p e . 25 found there now, fince the ifland has been inhabited. But on Daffen Ifland they-are found in much greater quanti- kxvO ties, infomuch that fometimes a general fliooting party is made with advantage to deftroy the feals there, for the fake of their blubber. Their ikins, though very good in their kind, are to be had very cheap ; and are, as far as I know, in requeft only among the bodrs for tobacco-pouches,, for which they are extremely well calculated, as they keep the tobacco from growing dry. I brought home with me the . fluffed foetus of a pboca from the Cape. It is o f the fame fpecies with thofe that I inveftigated together with Meflfrs. F o r s t e r , and eat at New Zeeland, ferra Del Fuego, and the Southern fhule. When théi train-oil was feparated, the flefh was really good and eatable, efpecially as in thofe places we could get nothing better : we imagined indeed, that it tailed like beef, but it muft be owned that it had a difagreable black hue. I havè opened the inteftines of divers phocoe, and always found them empty, excepting a little fand and fmall fèa- fhells, together with a few ftones from the fize o f a nut to that of an egg. The reafon of this emptinefs of the bowels may have been, either that thefe creatures have very ftrong digeftive powers, fo as fpeedily to diffolve the fea animals on which they probably live, or elfe, that during their dwelling and copulating on fhore, they abftain for a long time from all food whatever. Various forts of Jea-fifh are taken at the Cape and Falfe- bay. At the latter place they had juft caught the eledtric ray-fijh, irai a torpedo) but unluckily I chanced to be abfent, while it. was yet alive, and experiments were made V 0 l . I. E with
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