A true & exact history of the island of BarbadosLigon, Richard
History
A true & exact history of the island of Barbados
Ligon, Richard
Barbados -- Description and travel; Plants -- Barbados; Sugar -- Manufacture and refining -- Barbados
servicable to him or his, as any thing that can befall me in the
world.
Amongst other fishes that were taken by his Saine, (as the Snappers,
red and grey, Cavallos, Maquerells, Mullets, Cony-fish, with divers
others, firme and excellent sweet fish) he took four, that were
about a yard long at the least, all at one draught, and, to that
length, bigger grown then Salmonds, of the rarest colour that ever
I beheld; from the back-finne, which is the middle of the fish, to
the end of the tail, the purest grasse-green that ever I saw, and as
shining as Satine: but the finns and tail dapled or spotted with as
pure a hair-colour, and from the back finn to the head, pure hair
colour dapled with green; the scales as big for the most part, as a
halfe-crown piece of silver. This fish is no fish of prey, but lives
by what he finds in the bottom of the Sea, as I perceived by what
was in his maw. An excellent sweet fish; I dressed them severall
waies, and all proved excellent. There is one fish wanting to this
Iland, whose kindes are very frequent upon most of the _Charibby_
and _Lucaick_ Ilands; and that is the green _Turtle_, which is the
best food the Sea affords, and the greatest store of them; but I have
seen very few of that kind in the _Barbadoes_, and those neither fat
nor kindly; and the reason is, there are no shelves nor sands to
lay their eggs, or to ayre themselves on: For, these fishes delight
to be on the sands, and can remain there twelve hours, all the time
the Tyde is out; and then suffer themselves to be carried away by
the return of the next Tide. They take infinite numbers of them, by
turning them on their backs with staves, where they lie till they are
fetcht away. A large _Turtle_ will have in her bodie halfe a bushell
of eggs, which she laies in the sand, and that being warm, they are
hatcht in the heat.
When you are to kill one of these fishes, the manner is, to lay him
on his back on a table, and when he sees you come with a knife in
your hand to kill him, he vapours out the grievousest sighes, that
ever you heard any creature make, and sheds as large tears as a Stag,
that has a far greater body, and larger eyes. He has a joynt or
crevis, about an inch within the utmost edge of his shell, which goes
round about his body, from his head to his tail, on his belly-side;
into which joynt or crevis, you put your knife, beginning at the
head, and so rip up that side, and then do as much to the other;
then lifting up his belly, which we call his _Calipee_, we lay open
all his bowells, and taking them out, come next to his heart, which
has three distinct poynts, but all meet above where the fat is; and
if you take it out, and lay it in a dish, it will stir and pant ten
hours after the fish is dead. Sure, there is no creature on the
Earth, nor in the Seas, that enjoyes life with so much sweetnesse and
delight, as this poor fish the _Turtle_; nor none more delicate in
taste, and more nourishing, then he.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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