I s l e o f K in o which he named Cockle ifle, Pigeon ifle, and king William's ifle.
Mr. Dalrymple, in his. view o f headlands, gives a point on the
laft the title o f cape Mabo ; that judicious writer makes king Wil-
liatii's ifland the northern boundary o f the new ftreight, or as he
names it Dampter's ftreight; king William's iiland is very moun-
tanous and woody, and greatly refembling that o f Patanta.
Dampier viiited a fmall low ifland, off the weftern part of king
William's, which he called Pigeon ifle, from its fwarming with a
fpecies o f thofe birds.
C o c k l e I s l e . T h e third he named Cockle ifle, from the number o f the
Chama Gigas o f Linnceus, which he found on the coral rocks..
This monftrous ihell is defcribed by Rumpbius, tab. 47. fig. E ;
Bonanni,lib. ii. tab. 88; Seb. iii. tab. 86. fig. i; Argenville, tab. 23.
fig. B; Born, p. 80; DaCoJla,Conchyl. tab. 7. fig. 4; and Chemnitz,
vol. vii. tab. 9. fig. 495. Dampier calls them cockles; he fays that
at firft he could get only fmall ones o f ten pounds weight, but
V a s t C h a m . * , afterwards his men brought him a fingle ihell that weighed two
hundred and fifty-eight pounds, fo that the pair muft have
weighed five hundred and fixteen pounds, exclufive o f the fiih,
which in fome weighs thirty pounds. This is efteemed very good
ftewed, and, with the Sago bread o f thefe iflands, may at any
time be a fufe relief to navigators. By reaibn of the fize of thefe
ihells, it is unfafe to attempt taking them into a fmall canoe :
the method of managing them in fuch circumftances, is to put a
pole into the gaping ihell, which inftantly clofes, and holds fo
faft that it may be drawn up to the furface of the water; the
fiih, on being ftabbed with a cutlafs, dies immediately, and may
be taken out, and the ihells dropped into the fea. M. Da Cojla
lays that fometimes a pair of ihells weigh fix and even feven hundred
pounds. Mr. Gmelin* relates that the fiih is large enough to
feed a hundred and twenty men, and that the ihells are able'
fo fnap a xable in two, or to cut off a man’s hand I the laft
I can credit, poflibly the firft is a» exaggerated proof of their
ftrength.
Mk. Born, p. 81. (from D'avtla) informs us, that from the ligament
o f the hinge is made a gem called Pavoniumhy litho-
logifts.
N o r t h o f Patanta is a narrow anonymous ifle, lying'.midway,
and at but a fmall diftance from it, that o f Gammon, fituated near
to Wdygim, one o f the greateft o f the Papuan ifles. On: the W a y c io u .
fouth this' is divided by two great bays, which penetrate deeply
into the country; the northern fide is' gently incurvated, and
bends at each end towards the fouth; the equator pafles over
the middle of the ifland. The land' is very lofty, and the mountains
divide frequently into peaks; the foftieft o f which is dif-
tinguiihed by the name o f the Buffalo's Horn. The ifland is’:
faid to be forty leagues in circumference, to be governed by
ehieftains, and to contain a hundred thoufand inhabitants, who!
are perpetually at war with each other. On the fouth fide are
two very good harbors, Piapis and Offak. Mr. Forrejl gives
plans of them'inhis ninth plate, and of the piclurefque harbor of-
Rawak, in plate 10. In the lame, and alfo in tab. 9, are views o f
the ifland itfel’f.
B e s i d e s t h e l i t t l e i f l e s , f u c h a s Ruib, Ben, a n d 'o t h e r s , to t h e
n o r t h and. n o r th -W e f t o f the h a r b o r o f Piapis, a r e f e v e r a l w h ic h - -
f Lini Syft. 3300.
are