I Saw No Kind Of Beasts, But There Are
Guanas In Abundance, And Land-Tortoises Almost On Every Island, Besides
Vast Numbers Of Turtles Or Sea-Tortoises.
It is very strange how the
land-tortoises have got here, as there are none on the main, and they
could not have come of themselves.
Some of these islands are the haunts
of seals, but not in such numbers as at Juan Fernandez, neither is their
fur so good. A very large one made at me three several times, and if I
had not happened to have a pike-staff headed with iron, he might have
killed me. I was on the level sand when he came open-mouthed at me from
the water, as fierce and quick as an angry dog let loose. All the three
times he made at me, I struck the pike into his breast, which at last
forced him to retire into the water, snarling with an ugly noise, and
shewing his long teeth. This animal was as big as a large bear.
[Footnote 228: In Cowley's voyage, formerly given, one of these
islands, which he calls the Duke of York's Island, is said to have
abundance of wood and water, but none to be had in any of the rest.
Perhaps the Duke of York's Island of Cowley, and Santa Maria del Aguada
of Morel, may be the same. - E.]
On the 1st October we made the main-land of Mexico, which Captain
Dampier immediately recognized as near the place where he had attacked
the lesser Manilla ship in the St George.
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