Page:History of the Royal Society.djvu/232

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208
The HISTORY of

one Bushel hath produc'd one hundred and thirty in a seasonable Year.

"The Canary Birds (which they bring to us in England) breed in the Barancos or Gills, which the Water hath fretted away in the Mountains, being Places very cold. There are also Quails, Partridges, larger than ours and exceeding beautiful, great Wood-pigeons, Turtles at Spring, Crows, and sometimes from the Coast of Barbary appears the Falcon. Bees are carried into the Mountains, where they prosper exceedingly.

"They have wild Goats on the Mountains, which climb to the very top of the Pico sometimes: Also Hogs and Multitudes of Conies.

"Of Fish they have the Cherna, a very large and excellent Fish, better tasted than any we have in England; the Mero, Dolphin, Shark, Lobsters without the great Claws, Muscles, Periwinkles, and the Clacas, which is absolutely the very bed Shell-fish in the World; they grow in the Rocks five or fix under one great Shell, through the top Holes whereof they peep out with their Nebs, from whence (the Shells being broken a little more open with a Stone) they draw them forth. There is likewise another Fish like an Eel, which hath six or seven Tails of a Span in Length united to one Head and Body, which is also as short. Besides these, they have Turtles and Cabridos which are better than our Trouts.

"The Island is full of Springs of pure Water tasting like Milk. And in Lalaguna (where the Water is not altogether so limpid and clear (they percolate it through a kind of spungy Stone cut in Form of a Bason.

"The