Upon The Coast Of The South Sea There Are Great Numbers Of Birds Named _Alcatraz_, Somewhat Like Our Ordinary Poultry In Shape, But So Large That Each Individual May Contain Three Pecks Of Grain In Its Crop.

These birds feed mostly on fish which they catch in the sea, yet are fond of carrion, which they go in search of thirty or forty leagues inland.

The flesh of these birds stinks most abominably, insomuch that some persons who have been driven to the necessity of eating it have died, as if poisoned.

It has been already said, that rain, hail, and snow, fall on the mountainous region of Peru, where in many places it is intensely cold: But in many parts of that region there are deep valleys in which the air is so hot, that the inhabitants have to use various contrivances to defend themselves from the excessive heat. In these vallies there is an herb called _coca_, which is held in very high estimation by the natives: Its leaf resembles that of the _sumach_, and the Indians have learnt from experience that, by keeping a leaf of that plant in their mouth they can prevent themselves for a long time from feeling either hunger or thirst. In many parts of the mountain there is no wood, so that travellers in those parts are obliged to use a species of earth which is found there for the purpose of fuel, and which burns very much like turf or peats.

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