own eyes, yet I have met with many honest and reasonable men in my native country, who have assured me, that they have found pieces of old, rotten, driven wood in the sea, upon which there hang muscles, in some of which they saw young birds, some half formed, others in full perfection and shape. From whence I conclude, that those fowls spring from no other seed than some clammy and viscous matter floating in the sea, precipitated upon pieces of old rotten wood as aforesaid; of which there is first formed a muscle, and then a little worm in the muscle shell; from whence at last a bird proceeds. And although this may seem to exceed the ordinary bounds set by nature in the procreation of other birds, yet it is observed and confessed, that the sea produces many strange and surprising things, and even living animals, which we cannot affirm to have had being from the first creation; but that by virtue of the primitive blessing God gave the sea to produce, it may yet bring forth many uncommon and wonderful things; as for example, many sorts of sea insects, viz. crabs and the like. And thus the sea or water in general may with reason be stiled _pater et mater rerum_; i. e. “the common parent of things.” Nature seems to delight sometimes in forming out-of-the-way things: thus we see divers insects formed out of the very dung of animals; some of which insects often change their kind and shape, _viz._ from a small worm into a flying animal; as flies, beetles, butterflies, and so forth. [31] When they see our drunken sailors quarrelling and fighting together, they say we are inhuman; that those fighters do not look upon one another to be of the same kind. Likewise, if an officer beats any of the men, they say, such officer treats his fellow creatures like dogs. [32] The way the men wash themselves is to lick their fingers (as the cat does his paws) and rub their eyes with them to get the salt off, which the sea throws into their face. The women wash themselves in their urine, that their hair may grow, and to give it (according to their fancy) a fine smell. When a maiden has thus washed herself, their common saying is _niviarsiarsuanerks_, that is, she smells like a virgin maid. Thus washed they go into the cold air, and let it freeze, which shows the strength of their heads, and it well becomes foreigners to do so. [33] In the summer they wear short frocks, as also in winter, when they work on the ice in the bays; but then they put a white covering over it, that they may not frighten the seals.