ely pleasant and fruitful,
abounding in all things necessary for life, such as birds of various
kinds, several sorts of fish, and amphibious animals, particularly
turtles and guanas. Among the birds is a very beautiful one called the
_Maccaw_, having feathers of all the colours of the rainbow. It is in
shape like a large parrot, with a white bill, and black legs and feet.
The _carrion crow_ is as big as a small turkey, which it perfectly
resembles in shape and colour; but its flesh smells and tastes so strong
of muck that it is not eatable. The _pelican_ is almost as big as a
swan, being mostly white with brown tips to the wings, having a long
bill with a large cross joining the lower part of the bill, and hanging
down the throat like a bag or satchel of great size, into which it
receives oysters, cockles, conchs, and other shell-fish, which it is
unable to break, and retains them there till they open, when it throws
them out and picks out the meat. They are good food, but taste a little
fishy. Their feet are broad, and webbed like ducks, being water fowl,
yet they commonly roost on rocks or trees, and always sit with their
heads to the wind, varying their posture as that changes. They are heavy
birds and fly slowly, and always when sitting rest their long bills
upon their breasts. The _Guana_ is an amphibious animal, found both on
land and in the water. It is about three feet long, some more some less,
and is very ugly, having large sharp scales, black and green, from the
fore part of the head to the end of the tail. The mouth is furnished
with numerous large and sharp teeth, and it has four long claws on each
foot. They commonly breed in holes about the roots of old trees near the
water. When stewed with some spice, their flesh is very white and eats
well, making also good broth; but if not extraordinarily well boiled, it
is very dangerous meat, making men very sick and often occasioning
fevers.

There are several kinds of _turtles_, or sea tortoises, but we account
the green turtle the best meat. When they want to lay their eggs, they
go on shore in some sandy bay, where they make a hole in the sand with
their fins, two feet and a half deep, in which one turtle will deposit
from eighty to ninety eggs, which they cover over with the sand, leaving
them to hatch by the heat of the sun. They lay in this manner two or
three times every year, and go immediately off to sea, leaving their
young when hatched to shift for them