ſupply’d by Rice, of which they had a great Quantity aboard: This was boyl’d and ſqueez’d dry, and ſo eat with the Turtle.
There are three or four Sorts of theſe Creatures in the Weſt-Indies, the largeſt of which will weight 150 or 200 Pound Weight or more, but thoſe that were found upon this Iſland were of the ſmalleſt Kind, weighing 10 or 12 Pounds each, with a fine natural wrought Shell, and beautifully clouded; the Meat ſweet and tender, ſome Part of it eating like Chicken, ſome like Veal, &c. ſo that it was no extraordinary Hardſhip for them to live upon this Proviſion alone, ſince it affords variety of Meats to the Taſte, of it ſelf. The manner of catching this Fiſh is very particular; you muſt underſtand, that in the Months of May, June and July, they lay their Eggs in order to hatch their Young, and this three times in a Seaſon, which is always in the Sand of the Sea-ſhore, each laying 80 or 90 Eggs at a time. The Male accompanies the Female, and come aſhore in the Night only, when they muſt be watch’d, without making any Noiſe, or having a Light; as ſoon as they land, the Men that watch for them, turn them on their Backs, then haul them above high Water Mark, and leave them till next Morning, where they are ſure to find them, for they can’t turn again, nor move from the Place. It is to be obſerv’d, that beſides their laying time, they come aſhore to feed, but then what’s very remarkable in theſe Creatures, they always reſort to different Places to breed, leaving their uſual Haunts for two or three Months, and ’tis thought they eat nothing in all that Seaſon.
They paſs’d their Time here in Dancing, and other Diverſions, agreeable to theſe ſort of Folks; and among the reſt, they appointed a Mock Court of Judicature to try one another for Pyracy, and he that was a Criminal one Day was made Judge another.----
