Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/283

1770 as in other countries companions of the men, and the latter probably brought hither by the men; especially as they are so scarce, that I myself have not had opportunity of seeing even one. Of seals, indeed, we have seen a few, and one sea-lion; but these were in the sea, and are certainly very scarce, as there were no signs of them among the natives, except a few teeth of the latter, which they make into a kind of bodkin and value much. It appears not improbable that there really are no other species of quadrupeds in the country, for the natives, whose chief luxury in dress consists in the skins and hair of dogs and the skins of divers birds, and who wear for ornaments the bones and beaks of birds and teeth of dogs, would probably have made use of some part of any other animal they were acquainted with, a circumstance which, though carefully sought after, we never saw the least signs of.

Of birds there are not many species, and none, except perhaps the gannet, are the same as those of Europe. There are ducks and shags of several kinds, sufficiently like the European ones to be called the same by the seamen, both which we eat and accounted good food, especially the former, which are not at all inferior to those of Europe.

Besides these there are hawks, owls, and quails, differing but little at first sight from those of Europe, and several small birds that sing much more melodiously than any I have heard. The sea coast is also frequently visited by many oceanic birds, as albatrosses, shearwaters, pintados, etc., and has also a few of the birds called by Sir John Narbrough penguins, which are truly what the French call a nuance between birds and fishes, as their feathers, especially on their wings, differ but little from scales; and their wings themselves, which they use only in diving, by no means attempting to fly or even accelerate their motion on the surface of the water (as young birds are observed to do), might thence almost as properly be called fins.

Neither are insects in greater plenty than birds; a few butterflies and beetles, flesh-flies very like those in Europe, mosquitos and sand-flies, perhaps exactly the same as those