d in the mean
time examine the country. As soon as the ship could be got under sail,
the boats made the signal for anchorage, upon which we stood in, and
anchored in five fathoms water, about a league within the entrance of
the inlet; which, as I observed a tide to flow and ebb considerably, I
judged to be a river that ran up the country to a considerable distance.
In this place I had thoughts of laying the ship ashore, and cleaning her
bottom; I therefore landed with the master in search of a convenient
place for that purpose, and was accompanied by Mr Banks and Dr Solander.
We found walking here exceedingly troublesome, for the ground was
covered with a kind of grass, the seeds of which were very sharp and
bearded backwards, so that whenever they stuck into our clothes, which
indeed was at every step, they worked forwards by means of the beard,
till they got at the flesh, and at the same time we were surrounded by a
cloud of musquitos, which incessantly tormented us with their stings. We
soon met with several places where the ship might conveniently be laid
ashore, but to our great disappointment we could find no fresh water. We
proceeded however up the country, where we found gum trees like those
that we had seen before, and observed that here also the gum was in very
small quantities. Upon the branches of these trees, and some others, we
found ants nests made of clay, as big as a bushel, something like those
described in Sir Hans Sloan's Natural History of Jamaica, vol. ii. p.
221, tab. 258, but not so smooth; the ants which inhabited these nests
were small and their bodies white. But upon another species of the tree
we found a small black ant, which perforated all the twigs, and having
worked out the pith, occupied the pipe which had contained it, yet the
parts in which these insects had thus formed a lodgment, and in which
they swarmed in amazing numbers, bore leaves and flowers, and appeared
to be in as flourishing a state as those that were sound. We found also
an incredible number of butterflies, so that for the space of three or
four acres the air was so crowded with them, that millions were to be
seen in every direction, at the same time that every branch and twig was
covered with others that were not upon the wing. We found here also a
small fish of a singular kind; it was about the size of a minnow, and
had two very strong breast fins; we found it in places that were quite
dry, where we supposed it might have