_From hence he sails to _Do-Cerne_, so called by the
_Portugals_; who _Adam_-like, give (or, as I may say,
take too much liberty) in imposing names on all new
places, and things. By the _Hollanders_, it is called
_Mauritius_. Its general Description._
_Do-Cerne_ or _Mauritius_, is an Isle situate within the torrid Zone,
close by the Tropick of _Capricorn_; but it is very uncertain unto what
part of the world it belongs, participating both of _America_, and
bending towards the _Asiatick_ Seas, from _India_ to _Java_. This Isle
aboundeth with what the use of man shall require. The landing looking
out at Sea, is Mountainous: the circuit of this Island is about an
hundred miles; it procreates an healthy and nourishing air; the great
quantity of ever-flourishing & fragrant trees, doth no less lenifie the
burning heat, when the Sun enters into _Capricorn_, as helped by the
sweet mollifying breath of the North-west winde, when _Sol_ again
adheres to _Cancer_. Now as the temperature of that body is best
composed, that participates indifferently of all the Elements, which
either super-abounding or wanting, begets defect; What then is the
temperature of this place, which is blest with, & abounds in all, &
abortive in none? Water is here very plentiful, drilling it self from
the high rocks & trickling down into the valleys, spreads it self into
various Meanders, till those sweet and pleasant waters disembogue
themselves into the lap of the salt Ocean. There is so great a quantity
of wood, that we could hardly procure passage. But of those many various
Trees, we found none so beneficial to us, as the _Palmeto_: this Tree is
long, streight, & very soft, having neither leaves, boughs, nor
branches, save at the top, whereon there is a soft pith, wherein
consists the sole vegetative of that Tree; which cut out, the _Palmeto_
in a very short time expires. Its taste is much like a kernel of an
Hazel-nut; boiled, it is like Cabbage. But the chiefest commodity that
this Tree produceth, is the wine which issueth from it, pleasant, & as
nourishing as Muskadine or Alligant. Thus we procured some thereof;
coming where two or three grew together, with an augure we bored some
small holes in each, which immediately the liquor filled; then with a
small cane or quill we suckt the wine out of one Tree; then we went to
another, and from that to the third: by that time we had drained the
last, the holes in the two former were full again. This course we
followed so smartly, that in less than an hour, three of us were so
drunk (whereof I was none of the soberest) that had not these Trees been
near the shore, for ought I know, by the morning we might have feasted
the wilde beasts. Divers other Trees there be, strange both in shape and
nature; one whereof (meerly out of curiosity) I must needs taste, which
for half an hour so bit or stung my tongue, as if I had had my mouth
full of Vitriol, or spirit of Salt. It is a comely tree to look on, but
brings forth not any thing that is good: this Tree is in a manner naked
too, and the body thereof as soft & penetrable, as new Cheese: the form
of the Tree, its uselessness, with that hidden sting it carries in it,
together with its softness; the last of which, invites me to cut these
lines therein; which my knife as easily performed, as to write a mans
name with a stick on the sand. The lines were these:
_Th’art like a Woman, but thou want’st her breath;
Who’s fair, but fruitless, and will sting to death
If tasted: would I could blast thee with my curse,
Since woman thou art like, for nothing’s worse._
There is another Tree, which beareth a cod full of sharp prickles,
wherein lies hid a round fruit, in form of a Doves-egg; crack it, and
therein contain’d you shall finde a kernel, pleasant in taste, but
poysonous in its operation. My sweet tooth long’d for a taste, and being
very toothsome I did eat several; but it was not long ere my guts were
all in an uproar, & were resolved in this mutiny, could they have found
way, to charge my mouth with high treason against the rest of my
Members; but they were at last content only to discharge their fury
through the Postern of their Microcosm; which they did so furiously,
that I was much afraid, my guts having spent all their shot, they would
have marcht out after. I had (in plain English) in less than six hours
sixty stools, besides purging upwards; and had not we had a very skilful
Dr. Chyrurgeon of our Ship, I had unavoidably perisht. Nature in this
Island shew’d her prodigality of water and wood, corresponding also in
everything else a fruitful Mother labours to be excellent in. Here she
seems to boast, not only in the variety of feather’d creatures, but in
the rareness of that variety, which should I run over but briefly, the
subject is so large, that by some I cannot but be thought too tedious.
However, I shall lightly touch thereon. Here, and here only is generated
the _Dodo_; for rareness of shape contending with the _Arabian Phœnix_;
her body is round and very fat, the least whereof, commonly weighs above
twenty pound: They please the sight more than the appetite, for their
flesh is of no nourishment, and very offensive to the stomach. By her
visage (darting forth melancholy) she seems to be sensible of that
injury Nature hath done her, in framing so great a body, and yet
useless, but to please the eye; committing its guidance to complemental
wings (for so I’m forc’d to call them) since they are so small and
impotent, that they only serve to prove her an off-spring of the winged
Tribe. Here are Bats also, as large as Goshawks. There is likewise great
plenty of Fish; among the rest of more especial note, is the Cow-fish;
the head thereof not unlike an Elephants, her eyes are small, her body
at full growth about three yards long, and one broad; her fins exceeding
little, her flesh (being an amphibious creature, living as well at Land,
sometimes, as in the Sea) doth taste much like Veal. Some say that this
Fish doth affect, and takes much delight in the sight of a mans visage.
About this Island are flying fish, Dolphins, and Sharks. One of our men
imprudently swimming one day, the weather being very hot, in our sight a
Shark came and bit off his leg, and part of his thigh, and he thereupon
sunk; we made out to save him, but before we came, he was drowned. Here
are Tortoises so great, that they will creep with two mens burdens on
their backs; but their pace is so slow, that they would make but ill
Porters, going not above ten yards in two hours, when they make their
greatest speed. The birds here are so unaccustomed to frights, that I
have shot five or six times amongst a flock, letting the dead still lie,
and not one of the surviving did so much as offer to flie. The Goats
here have more of the Politician in them; for they seldom feed or rest
themselves, but they set out their sentinels.