pigafetta’s voyage round the world.

310

fuch a refplendent blaze of light as almoft blinded us. We gave ourfelves up forloft ; but the wind ceafed momentaneoufly *.

We faw birds of many kinds. Some appeared to us to have no rump ; others makeno nefts for want of feet; but the female lays and hatches her eggs on the back of themale in the midft of the fea f. There are others called cagaflela, or caca uccello (fter-corarius), which live on the excrements of other birds; and I have myfelf oftentimesfeen one of thefe birds purfuing another without interruption until it voided its excre-ment, upon which it feized with avidity J. I likewife faw many flying-fifh, and otherfilh in fuch amazing fhoals, they refembled a bank in the fea.

After we had palfed the equinoctial line, we loft fight of the polar ftar. We thenfteered fouth-fouth-weft, making for the Terra di Verzino || (Brazil ), in latitude twenty-three degrees thirty minutes fouth. This land is a continuation of that on which CapeAuguftin is fituate in latitude eight degrees thirty minutes fouth.

Here we laid in a good ftock of fowls, potatoes, a kind of fruit which refembles thecone of a pine-tree (the anana or pine-apple), but which is very fweet, and of an ex-quifite flavour, fweet reeds §, the flefh of the anta, which refembles that of a cow&c. We made excellent bargains here : for a hook or a knife we purchafed five orfix fowls; a comb brought us two geefe ; and a fmall looking-glafs, or a pair of fcifiars,as much fifli as would ferve ten people ; the inhabitants, for a little bell or a ribbon,gave abaiket of potatoes (patates**), which is the name they give to roots fomewhatrefembling our turnips, and which are nearly like chefnuts in tafte. Our playing-cards were an equally advantageous object of barter; for a king of fpades I obtainedhalf a dozen fowls, and the hawker even deemed his bargain an excellent one.

* In all ages thefe meteors have been perceived on the tops of mafts 1 during the prevalence of ftorms, andthey have likewife conftantly been regarded as fymbols of the protcftion of heaven Idolalors fancied themto be Caftor and Pollux ; and Chriftians have reckoned them to be faints, efpecially St. Elme. When thenumber of meteors has equalled that of the mafts, they have obtained credit as reprefenting befides St. Elme,St. Nicholas and St.Clare. The Englilh failors, who ridicule the idea of their being faints, yet regardthem as Will o’the Wifps, or fpirits, and call them Davy Jones. It is merely within the laft century thatnaturalifts have difcovered them to be an effeft of the eledtric fluid, which, being fometimes more and fome-times lefs abundant, fometimes poikive and fometimes negative, appears more or lefs vivid ; and, as thisfluid is the caufe of the ftorm, it is natural that that flrould ccafe at the inftant the electricity becomesno longer vifible in thefe lights on the top of the mafts. Thus is a phyfical caufe affigned for thefe phe-nomena, which Pigafetta frequently mentions.

f It was anciently imagined that the bird of paradife, of which more elaborate mention will be made inBook III. had no feet, and conftru&ed no nefts ; and that the female hatched her eggs on the backof the male : but here the author fpeaks of another aquatic fowl with legs covered with feathers, butfo fhort as to feent deftitute of them ; and, although this bird builds its nefts on fhore, the mother bears itsyoung to fea on its back almoft as foon as hatched. Of thefe birds M. de Bougainville faw feveral at theFalkland Iflands.

J The llercorarius, larus parafitus, Linn, is a bird of prey, which not being amphibious, awaits inorder to obtain filh the inftant of thofe leaving the fea who dive for their prey; they then attack andpurfue the latter until they force them to drop the fifli they have taken. This prey which they let fall itis that has been miftaken for excrement.

J| Verzino, or Brafil wood, is the name given to a red wood formerly drawn from Alia and Africa, andwhich at prefent is almoft exclulively imported from the Brazils, a kingdom to which this name has beengiven on account of the abundance in it of this kind of tree. Amerigo Vefpucci, who was here in 1502*when he gave his name to America , faid that he found here injimto verzino, e molte lucno, Bartolozzi,Ricerche Storiche fulle Scoperte d’Amerigo Vefpucci.

$ The fugar-cane, arundo faccharifera. Linn.

The anta is the tapir Americanus of Linnc. A fpecies of large fwine,

** The patate, or batate, fortunately needs no defcription 5 it is the folanum, or hiliotropium tubero-fum of Linnc.

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