Tinian to Pulo Timoan and thence Batavia
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WE continued our course till Thursday the 10th, when being in latitude 18° 33’N., longitude 136° 50’E. we found the ship two and twenty miles to the southward of her account, which must have been the effect of a strong current in that direction. The variation here was 5° 10’E. and for some time we found it regularly decreasing, so that on the 19th, being in latitude 21° 10’N., longitude 124° 17’E. the needle pointed due north.
On the 18th, we had found the ship eighteen miles to the northward of her account, and saw several land birds about the ship, which appeared to be very much tired: we caught one as it was resting upon the booms, and found it very remarkable. It was about as big as a goose, and all over as white as snow, except the legs and beak which were black; the beak was curved, and of so great a length and thickness, that it is not easy to conceive how the muscles of the neck, which was about a foot long and as small as that of a crane, could support it. We kept it about four months upon biscuit and water, but it then died, apparently for want of nourishment, being almost as light as a bladder. It was very different from every species of the Toucan that is represented by Edwards, and I believe has never been described.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 123, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/159.html