To the account given of the fish we met with here I must add, that though turtle now grew scarce, and we found none in this harbour of Chequetan, yet our boats, which were stationed off Petaplan, often supplied us therewith; and though this was a food that we had been long as it were confined to (since it was the only fresh provisions which we had tasted during near six months), yet we were far from {246} being cloyed with it, or from finding that the relish we had for it at all diminished. The animals we met with on shore were principally guanos, with which the country abounds, and which are by some reckoned delicious food. We saw no beast of prey here, except we should esteem that amphibious animal, the alligator, as such, several of which our people discovered, but none of them very large. However, we were satisfied that there were great numbers of tygers in the woods, though none of them came in sight, for we every morning found the beach near the watering-place imprinted very thick with their footsteps: but we never apprehended any mischief from them, since they are by no means so fierce as the Asiatic or African tyger, and are rarely, if ever, known to attack mankind. Birds were here in sufficient plenty; for we had abundance of pheasants of different kinds, some of them of an uncommon size, but they were all very dry and tasteless eating. And besides these we had a variety of smaller birds, particularly parrots, which we often killed for food. The fruits and vegetable refreshments at this place were neither plentiful nor of the best kinds. There were, it is true, a few bushes scattered about the woods, which supplied us with limes, but we scarcely could procure enough for our present use: and these, with a small plum of an agreeable acid, called in Jamaica the hog-plum, together with another fruit called a papah, were the only fruits to be found in the woods. Nor is there any other useful vegetable here worth mentioning, except brook lime. This indeed grew in great quantities near the fresh-water banks; and as it was esteemed an antiscorbutic, we fed upon it frequently, though its extreme bitterness made it very unpalatable. These are the articles most worthy of notice in this harbour of Chequetan. I shall only mention a particular of the coast lying to the westward of it, that to the eastward having been already described. As Mr. Anson was always attentive to whatever might be of consequence to those who might frequent these seas hereafter, and as we had observed that there was a double land to the westward of Chequetan, which stretched out to a considerable distance, with a kind of opening that appeared not unlike the inlet to some harbour, the commodore, soon after we came to an anchor, sent a boat to discover it more accurately, and it was found on a {247} nearer examination that the two hills which formed the double land were joined together by a valley, and that there was no harbour nor shelter between them.