ur heads at a
little distance, the men knocked down many of them with stones and
sticks, and carried off several hundreds of their eggs. After some time
I left the island and landed upon the main, where our men dressed and
eat their eggs, though there were young birds in most of them. I saw no
traces of inhabitants on either side of the river, but great numbers of
guanicoes, in herds of sixty or seventy together: They would not however
suffer us to approach them, but stood and gazed at us from the hills, in
this excursion the surgeon, who was of my party, shot a tyger cat, a
small but very fierce animal; for, though it was much wounded, it
maintained a very sharp contest with my dog for a considerable time
before it was killed.[14]

[Footnote 14: "On the south shore the rocks are not so numerous as on
the north side; and there are more hills and deep vallies; but they are
covered only by high grass and a few small shrubs. Hence this is but a
bad place to touch at, by any ship that is under the necessity of
wooding and watering. Our commodore, in order to clear the ground of the
overgrown grass, which grew in some places in great quantities, and also
to improve the soil, which appeared to be of a barren sandy nature, gave
orders for the grass to be set on fire in different places, which was no
sooner done, than the flames ran so fast, that in less than half an hour
they spread several miles round."]

On the 29th, we completed our ballast, which the strength of the tide,
and the constant gales of wind, rendered a very difficult and laborious
task; we also got on board another tun of water. On the morning of the
30th, the weather was so bad that we could not send a boat on shore; but
employed all hands on board in setting up the rigging. It grew more
moderate however about noon, and I then sent a boat to procure more
water. The two men who first came up to the well found there a large
tyger lying upon the ground; having gazed at each other some time, the
men, who had no fire-arms, seeing the beast treat them with as much
contemptuous neglect as the lion did the knight of La Mancha, begun to
throw stones at him: Of this insult, however, he did not deign to take
the least notice, but continued stretched upon the ground in great
tranquillity till the rest of the party came up, and then he very
leisurely rose and walked away.

On the first of December, our cutter being thoroughly repaired, we took
her on board, but the weat