dampier’s account of new hollano.

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yet this creature feemed by this means to have a head at each end, and, which maybereckoned a fourth difference, the legs alfo feemed all four of them to be fore-legs,being all alike in fhape and length, and feeming by the joints and bending to be madeas if they were to go indifferently either head or tail foremoft ; they were fpeckledblack and yellow like toads, and had fcales or knobs on their backs like thofe of cro-codiles, plated on to the fkin, or ftuck into it, as part of the fkin : they are very flowin motion; and when a man comes nigh them they will (land ftill and hifs, not endea-vouring to get away: their livers are alfo fpotted black and yellow; and the body,when opened, hath a very unfavory frnell. I did never fee fuch ugly creatures anywhere but here. The guanos I have obferved to be very good meat, and I haveoften eaten of them with pleafure ; but though I have eaten of fnakes, crocodiles andalligators, and many creatures that look frightfully enough, and there are but few Ifhould have been afraid to eat of, if preft by hunger, yet 1 think my ftomach wouldfcarce have ferved to venture upon thefe New Holland guanos, both the looks andthe fmell of them being fo offenfive.

The fea-fifh that we faw here (for here was no river, land or pond of frefh waterto be feen), are chiefly fharks : there are abundance of them in this particular found,that I therefore gave it the name of Shark’s Bay. Here are alfo fkates, thornbacks,and other fifli of the ray kind (one fort efpecially like the fea-devil), and gar-fifh,bonetas, &c. Of fhell-fifh we got here mufcles, periwinkles, limpits, oyfters, bothof the pearl kind and alfo eating oyfters, as well the common fort as long oyfters, be-fide cockles, &c. The fhore was lined thick with many other forts of very ftrangeand beautiful fhells for variety of colour and fhape, moft finely fpotted with red, blackor yellow, &c. fuch as I have not feen any where but at this place. I brought awaya great many of them, but loft all except a very few, and thofe not of the beft.

There are alfo fome green turtle weighing about two hundred pounds. Of thefe wecaught two, which the water ebbing had left behind a ledge of rock, which they couldnot creep over. Thefe ferved all my company two days, and they were indifferentfweet meat. Of the fharks we caught a great many, which our men eat very favourily.Among them we caught one which was eleven feet long. The fpace between its twoeyes was twenty inches, and eighteen inches from one corner of his mouth to theother. Its maw was like a leather fack, very thick, and fo tough that a fharp knifecould fcarce cut it, in which we found the head and bones of a hippopotomus, thehairy lips of which were ftill found and not putrified, and the jaw was alfo firm, outof which we plucked a great many teeth, two of them eight inches long, and as bigas a man’s thumb, fmall at one end, and a little crooked, the reft not above half folong. The maw was full of jelly, which ftank extremely : however I faved for a whilethe teeth and the fhark’s jaw ; the flefh of it was divided among my men, and theytook care that no wafte fhould be made of it.

It was the 7th of Auguft when we came into Shark’s-Bay, in which we an-chored at three feveral places, and ftaid at the firft of them (on the weft fide of thebay) till the nth ; during which time we fearched about, as I faid, for frefh water,digging wells, but to no purpofe; however, we cut good ftore of fire wood at thisfirft anchoring-place, and my company were all here very well refrefhed with raccoons,turtle, fhark, and other filh, and fome fowls, fo that we were now all much brifker thanwhen we came in hither; yet ftill I was for ftanding farther into the bay, partly becaufeI had a mind to increafe my ftock of frefh water, which was began to be low, andpartly for the fake of difcovering-this part of the coaft. I was invited to go further,by feeing from this anchoring place all open before me, which therefore I defigned to

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