Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/332

274 many brimstone-coloured spots, those of his under wings being indented deeply at each end.

We saw no fresh water, but several swamps of salt overgrown with mangroves; in these we found some species of shells, among them Trochus perspectivus, Linn. Here also was a very singular phenomenon in a small fish of which there were great abundance. It was about the size of an English minnow, and had two very strong breast fins; we often found it in quite dry places, where maybe it had been left by the tide. Upon seeing us it immediately fled from us, leaping as nimbly as a frog by means of the breast fins; nor did it seem to prefer water to land, for if seen in the water he often leaped out and proceeded on dry land, and when the water was filled with small stones standing above its surface, would leap from stone to stone rather than go into the water. In this manner I observed several pass over puddles of water and proceed on the other side leaping as before.

In the afternoon we went to the other side of the bay; if anything, the soil was rather better. In neither morning nor evening were there any traces of inhabitants ever having been where we were, except that here and there trees had been burnt down.

8th June. We passed within a quarter of a mile of a small islet or rock, on which we saw with our glasses about thirty men, women, and children standing all together, and looking attentively at us; the first people we have seen show any signs of curiosity at the sight of the ship.

10th. Just without us as we lay at anchor was a small sandy island lying upon a large coral shoal much resembling the low islands to the eastward of us, but the first of the kind we had met with in this part of the South Sea. Early in the morning we weighed and sailed as usual with a fine breeze along shore. While we were at supper she went over a bank of seven or eight fathoms of water, which she came upon very suddenly; this we concluded to be the tail of the shoals we had seen at sunset, and therefore went to bed in perfect security; but scarcely were we warm in our beds