The sea coast is also visited by many oceanic birds, particularly albatrosses, sheerwaters, pintados, and a few of the birds, which Sir John Narborough has called Penguins, and which indeed are what the French call Nuance, and seem to be a middle species between bird and fish; for their feathers, especially those upon their wings, differ very little from scales; and their wings themselves, which they use only in diving, and not to accelerate their motion even upon the surface of the water, may, perhaps with equal propriety, be called fins.

Neither are insects in greater plenty than birds: a few butterflies and beetles, flesh flies, very like those in Europe, and some musquitos and sand flies, perhaps exactly the same with those of North America, make up the whole catalogue. Of musquitos and sand flies, however, which are justly accounted the curse of every country where they abound, we did not see many; there were indeed a few in almost every place where we went on shore, but they gave us so little trouble, that we did not make use of the shades which we had provided for the security of our faces.

For this scarcity of animals upon the land, the sea, however, makes an abundant recompense; every creek swarming with fish, which are not only wholesome, but equally delicious with those of Europe: the ship seldom anchored in any station, or with a light gale passed any place, that did not afford us enough with hook and line to serve the whole ship’s company, especially to the southward: when we lay at anchor, the boats, with hook and line, near the rocks, could take fish in any quantity; and the seine seldom failed of producing a still more ample supply; so that both times when we anchored in Cook’s Streight, every mess in the ship, that was not careless and improvident, salted as much as lasted many weeks after they went to sea. Of this article, the variety was equal to the plenty; we had mackrel of many kinds, among which, one was exactly the same as we have in England: these came in immense shoals, and were taken by the natives in their seines, who sold them to us at a very easy rate. Besides these, there were fish of many species which we had never seen before, but to all which the seamen very readily gave names; so that we talked here as familiarly of hakes, bream, cole-fish, and many others, as we do in England; and though they are by no means of the same family, it must be confessed that they do honour to the name. But the highest luxury which the sea afforded us, even in this place, was the lobster or sea cray-fish, which are probably the same that in the Account of Lord Anson’s Voyage are said to have been found at the island of Juan Fernandes, except that, although large, they are not quite equal in size: they differ from ours in England in several 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 natives, who catch them by diving near the shore, 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, Pejegallo, or Poison coq, which though coarse, we eat very heartily. Several species of the skate, or sting-ray, are also found here, which were still coarser than the Elefant; but as an atonement, we had among many kinds of dog-fish one, spotted with white, which was in flavour exactly similar to our best skate, but much more delicious. We had also flat fish resembling both soles and flounders, besides eels and congers of various kinds, with many others of which those who shall hereafter visit this coast will not fail to find the advantage; and shell-fish in great variety, particularly clams, cockles, and oysters.

Voyaging Accounts