t of sand producing some grass, plants, and shrubs. The grass grows in
great tufts as big as a bushel, here and there a tuft: being intermixed
with much heath, much of the kind we have growing on our commons in
England. Of trees or shrubs here are divers sorts; but none above 10 foot
high: their bodies about 3 foot about, and 5 or 6 foot high before you
come to the branches, which are bushy and composed of small twigs there
spreading abroad, though thick set, and full of leaves; which were mostly
long and narrow. The colour of the leaves was on one side whitish, and on
the other green; and the bark of the trees was generally of the same
colour with the leaves, of a pale green. Some of these trees were
sweet-scented, and reddish within the bark, like the sassafras, but
redder. Most of the trees and shrubs had at this time either blossoms or
berries on them. The blossoms of the different sort of trees were of
several colours, as red, white, yellow, etc., but mostly blue: and these
generally smelt very sweet and fragrant, as did some also of the rest.
There were also beside some plants, herbs, and tall flowers, some very
small flowers, growing on the ground, that were sweet and beautiful, and
for the most part unlike any I had seen elsewhere.

A PARTICULAR SORT OF IGUANA: FISH, AND BEAUTIFUL SHELLS; TURTLE, LARGE
SHARK, AND WATER-SERPENTS.

There were but few land-fowls; we saw none but eagles of the larger sorts
of birds; but 5 or 6 sorts of small birds. The biggest sort of these were
not bigger than larks; some no bigger than wrens, all singing with great
variety of fine shrill notes; and we saw some of their nests with young
ones in them. The water-fowls are ducks (which had young ones now, this
being the beginning of the spring in these parts) curlews, galdens,
crab-catchers, cormorants, gulls, pelicans; and some waterfowl, such as I
have not seen anywhere besides. I have given the pictures of 4 several
birds on this coast.

The land animals that we saw here were only a sort of raccoon, different
from those of the West Indies, chiefly as to their legs; for these have
very short forelegs; but go jumping upon them as the others do (and like
them are very good meat) and a sort of iguana, of the same shape and size
with other iguanas described, but differing from them in 3 remarkable
particulars: for these had a larger and uglier head, and had no tail: and
at the rump, instead of the tail there, they had a stump of a tail