feine feldom failed of producing a still more ample fupply; fo that both times when we anchored in Cook's Streight, every mess in the ship, that was not careless and improvident, falted as much as lafted many weeks after they went to fea. Of this article, the variety was equal to the plenty; we had mackrel of many kinds, among which, one was exactly the fame as we have in England: thefe came in immenfe fhoals, and were taken by the natives in their feines, who fold them to us at a very easy rate. Befides thefe, there were fifh of many fpecies which we had never seen before, but to all which the feamen very readily gave names; fo that we talked here as familiarly of hakes, bream, cole-fifh, and many others, as we do in England; and though they are by no means of the fame family, it must be confeffed that they do honour to the name. But the highest luxury which the fea afforded us, even in this place, was the lobster or fea cray-fifh, which are probably the fame that in the Account of Lord Anfon's Voyage are faid to have been found at the island of Juan Fernandes, except that, although large, they are not quite equal in fize: they differ from ours in England in feveral particulars, they have a greater number of prickles on their backs, and they are red when first taken out of the water. These we also bought every where to the northward in great quantities of the 1770. March. 1770. March. Trees, plants, &c. the natives, who catch them by diving near the fhore, and finding out where they lie with their feet. We had also a fish that Frezier, in his Voyage to the Spanish Main in South America, has described by the names of Elefant, Pejégallo, or Poifon coq, which though coarse, we eat very heartily. Several fpecies of the fkate, or ftingray, are also found here, which were ftill coarser than the Elefant; but as an atonement, we had among many kinds of dog-fifh one, fpotted with white, which was in flavour exactly fimilar to our best skate, but much more delicious. We had also flat fish refembling both foles and flounders, besides eels and congers of various kinds, with many others of which those who fhall hereafter vifit this coaft will not fail to find the advantage; and fhell-fish in great variety, particularly clams, cockles, and oysters. Among the vegetable productions of this country, the trees claim a principal place; for here are forefts of vaft extent, full of the ftraighteft, the cleaneft, and the largest timber trees that we had ever feen; their fize, their grain, and apparent durability, render them fit for any kind of building, and indeed for every other purpose except mafts; for which, as I have already obferved, they are too hard, and too heavy there is one in particular which, when we were upon the coaft, was rendered conspicuous by a fcarlet flower, that seemed to be a com compendage of many fibres; it is about, as large as an oak, and the wood is exceedingly hard and heavy, and excellently adapted to the use of the mill-wright. There is another which grows in the fwamps, remarkably tall and ftraight, thick enough to make mafts for veifels of any fize, and, if a judgment may be formed by the direction of its grain, very tough: this, which, as has been before remarked, our carpenter thought to refemble the pitch pine, may probably be lightened by tapping, and it will then make the finest mafts in the world: it has a leaf not unlike a yew, and bears berries in fmall bunches. " Great part of the country is covered with a luxuriant verdure, and our natural historians were gratified by the novelty, if not the variety of the plants. Sow-thistle, garden night-fhade, one or two kinds of grafs, the fame as in England, and two or three kinds of fern, like those of the West Indies, with a few of the plants that are to be found in almost every part of the world, were all, out of about four hundred Ipecies, that have hitherto been described by any botanists, or had been seen elsewhere during the course of this voyage, except about five or fix which had been gathered at Terra del Fuego. Of eatable vegetables there are but few; our people, indeed, who had been long at sea, eat, with equal pleasure and advantage, of wild ce 3 lery, 1770. March. 1770. March. We lery, and a kind of creffes, which grew in great Gourds are also cultivated by the natives of this place, the fruit of which furnishes them with veffels for various uses. We also found here the Chinese paper mulberry tree, the fame as that of which the inhabitants of the South Sea islands make their cloth; but it is fo fcarce, that though the New Zealanders alfo make cloth of it, they have not enough for any other purpose than to wear as an ornament in the holes holes which they make in their ears, as I have obferved before. But among all the trees, shrubs, and plants of this country, there is not one that produces fruit, except a berry which has neither fweetness nor flavour, and which none but the boys took pains to gather, fhould be honoured with that appellation. There is, however, a plant that ferves the inhabitants inftead of hemp and flax, which excels all that are put to the fame purposes in other countries. Of this plant there are two forts; the leaves of both resemble those of flags, but the flowers are smaller, and their clusters more numerous; in one kind they are yellow, and in the other a deep red. Of the leaves of these plants, with very little preparation, they make all their common apparel; and of these they make also their strings, lines, and cordage for every purpose, which are fo much stronger than any thing we can make with hemp, that they will not bear a comparison. From the fame plant, by another preparation, they draw long flender fibres which shine like filk, and are as white as fnow: of thefe, which are alfo furprifingly ftrong, the finer clothes are made; and of the leaves, without any other preparation than fplitting them into proper breadths, and tying the strips together, they make their fishing nets; fome of which, as I have before remarked, are of an enormous fize. 4 A plant, 1770. March. |