# Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks/Chapter 1

CHAPTER I
ENGLAND TO RIO DE JANEIRO
Aug. 25—Nov. 13, 1768
Departure—Birds and marine animals—Species of Dagysa—Madeira—Dr. Heberden—Madeira mahogany—Wine-making—Vines—Carts—Vegetable productions—Convent—Chapel wainscoted with bones—General account of Madeira—Peak of Teneriffe—Marine animals—Cross the Equator—Climate of tropics—Luminous animals in the water—Trade winds—Brazilian fishermen—Sargasso weed—Rio harbour.
25th August 1768. Plymouth.—After having waited in this place ten days, the ship and everything belonging to me being all that time in perfect readiness to sail at a moment's warning, we at last got a fair wind; and this day at three o'clock in the evening weighed anchor and set sail, all in excellent health and spirits, perfectly prepared (in mind at least) to undergo with cheerfulness any fatigues or dangers that may occur in our intended voyage.
26th. Saw this evening a shoal of those fish which are particularly called Porpoises by the seamen, probably the Delphinus Phocæna of Linnæus, as their noses are very blunt.
28th. In some sea water which was on board to season a cask, observed a very minute sea-insect, which Dr. Solander described by the name of Podura marina. Took several specimens of Medusa pelagica, whose different motions in swimming amused us very much; among the appendages to this animal we found also a new species of Oniscus. We took also another animal, quite different from any we had ever seen; it was of an angular figure, about three inches ​long and one thick, with a hollow passing quite through it; on one end was a brown spot, which might be the stomach of the animal. Four of these, the whole number that we took, adhered together when taken by their sides; so that at first we imagined them to be one animal: but upon being put into a glass of water, they very soon separated, and swam briskly about.
31st. Observed about the ship several of the birds called by the seamen Mother Carey's Chickens, Procellaria pelagica, Linn., which were thought by them to be a sure presage of a storm, as indeed it proved.
2nd September. The casting-net brought up two kinds of animals, different from any before taken. They came up in clusters, both sorts indifferently in each cluster, although there were much fewer of a horned kind than of the other: they seemed to be two species of one genus, but are not at all reducible to any hitherto described.
3rd. We were employed all day in describing the animals taken yesterday: we found them to be of a new genus, and of the same as that taken on the 28th of August; we called the genus Dagysa, from the likeness of one species to a gem.
4th. Employed in fishing with the casting-net. We were fortunate in taking several specimens of Dagysa saccata adhering together, sometimes to the length of a yard or more, and shining in the water with very beautiful colours; but another insect we took to-day was possessed of more beautiful colouring than anything in nature I have ever seen, hardly excepting gems. It is of a new genus, called Carcinium, of which we took another species, having no beauty to boast of; but the first, which we called opalinum, shone in the water with all the splendour and variety of colours that we observe in a real opal. It lived in a glass of salt water, in which it was put for examination, several hours, darting about with great agility, and at every motion showing an almost infinite variety of changeable colours. Towards the evening of this day a new phenomenon appeared: the sea was almost covered with a small species of crab (Cancer depurator, Linn.), ​floating upon the surface of the water, and moving with tolerable agility, as if the surface and not the bottom of the ocean were their proper station.
5th. I forgot to mention yesterday that two birds were caught in the rigging, which had probably come from Spain, as we were not then distant more than five or six leagues from that country. This morning another was caught and brought to me, but so weak that it died in my hand almost immediately. All three were of the same species, and not described by Linnæus; we called them Motacilla velificans, as they must be sailors who would venture themselves aboard a ship which is going round the world. To balance to some extent our good fortune, now become too prevalent, a misfortune happened this morning, almost the worst which our enemies could have wished. The morning was calm, and Richmond employed in searching for what should appear on the surface of the water; a shoal of Dagysæ was observed, and he, eager to take some of them, threw the casting-net, fastened only to his wrist; the string slipped from him, and the net at once sunk into the deep, nevermore to torment its inhabitants. This left us for some time entirely without a resource; plenty of animals came past the ship, but all the nets were in the hold, stowed under so many other things that it was impossible even to hope that they may be got out to-day at least. However, an old hoop-net was fastened to a fishing-rod, and with it one new species of Dagysa was caught: it was named lobata.
6th. Towards the middle of the day the sea was almost covered with Dagysæ of different kinds, among which two entirely new ones were taken (rostrata and strumosa), but neither were observed hanging in clusters, as most of the other species had been; whether from the badness of the new machine, or the scarcity of the animals, I cannot say.
It is now time to give some account of the genus of Dagysa, of which we have already taken six species, all agreeing very well in many particulars, but chiefly in this very singular one, that they have a hole at each end, communicating by a tube often as large as the body of the ​animal, by the help of which they swim with some degree of activity when separated from each other. Several sorts are most generally seen joined together, gemmæ more particularly, which adhere in irregularly-shaped clusters of some hundreds; in the midst of these were generally found a few specimens of cornuta, from which circumstance we may judge that they are very nearly allied. It seems singular that no naturalist should have taken notice of these animals, as they abound so much where the ship now is, not twenty leagues from the coast of Spain. From hence, however, great hopes may be formed that the inhabitants of the deep have been but little examined, and as Dr. Solander and myself will have probably greater opportunity in the course of this voyage than any one before us, it is a very encouraging circumstance that so large a field of natural history has remained almost untrod until now, and that we may be able from this circumstance alone (almost unthought of when we embarked in the undertaking) to add considerable lights to the science which we so eagerly pursue.
This evening a large quantity of Carcinium opalinum, which may be called the opal insect, came under the ship's stern, making the very sea appear of uncommon beauty, their colours appearing with vast brightness even at the depth of two or three fathoms, though they are not more than three lines long and one broad.
7th. On examining the Dagysæ which were taken yesterday several small animals were found lodged in the hollow parts of their bodies, and some in the very substance of their flesh, which seems to be their food, as many of the Dagysæ were full of scars, which had undoubtedly been the lodgment of these animals some time before. Upon a minute inspection they proved to be animals not to be classed under Linnæus's genera, though nearly related to Oniscus, from which circumstance the name of Onidium was given to the new genus, and to them was added an animal taken on the 28th of August, and mentioned by the name of Oniscus macrophthalmus.
In one particular these insects differ from any hitherto ​described, and in that they all three agree, viz. in having two eyes joined together under one common membrane without the least distinction or division between them, which circumstance alone seems a sufficient reason for constituting a new genus.
10th. To-day for the first time we dined in Africa, and took leave of Europe for heaven alone knows how long, perhaps for ever; that thought demands a sigh as a tribute due to the memory of friends left behind, and they have it, but two cannot be spared, 'twould give more pain to the sigher than pleasure to those sighed for. 'Tis enough that they are remembered: they would not wish to be too much thought of by one so long to be separated from them, and left alone to the mercy of winds and waves.
12th. At ten to-night came to an anchor in Funchiale Bay, Madeira.
13th–18th. The product boat (as it is called by English sailors) from the officers of health, whose leave must be obtained before any ship's crew can land, came on board about eleven, and we immediately went on shore in the town of Funchiale, the capital of the island, situate in latitude 32° 40′ N. It is so called from the fennel which grows in plenty upon the rocks in its neighbourhood, and is called funcho in Portuguese. Here we immediately went to the house of the English consul, Mr. Cheap, one of the first merchants in the place, where we were received with uncommon marks of civility, he insisting upon our taking possession of his house, and living entirely with him during our stay, which we did, and were by him furnished with every accommodation that we could wish for. Leave was procured by him for us to search the island for whatever natural productions we might find worth noticing; people were also employed to procure for us fish and shells; horses and guides were obtained for Dr. Solander and myself to carry us to any part of the island which we might choose to visit. But our very short stay, which was only five days, made it impossible to go to any distance; so we ​contented ourselves with collecting as much as we could in the neighbourhood of the town, never going above three miles from it during our whole stay.
The season of the year was undoubtedly the worst for both plants and insects, being that of the vintage, when nothing is green in the country, except just on the verge of small brooks, by which their vines are watered; we made shift, however, to collect specimens of several plants, etc.
The five days which we remained upon the island were spent so exactly in the same manner that it is by no means necessary to divide them. I shall therefore only say that in general we got up in the morning, went out on our researches, returned to dine, and went out again in the evening. On one day, however, we had a visit from the Governor, of which we had notice beforehand, and were obliged to stay at home; so that this unsought honour lost us very nearly the whole day, a very material part of the short time we were allowed to stay upon the island. We, however, contrived to revenge ourselves upon his Excellency by means of an electrical machine which we had on board; for, upon his expressing a desire to see it, we sent for it ashore, and shocked him fully as much as he chose.
While here we were much indebted to Dr. Heberden, the chief physician of the island, and brother to the physician of that name at London. He had for many years been an inhabitant of the Canaries, and of this island, and had made several observations, chiefly philosophical; some, however, were botanical, describing the trees of the island. Of these he immediately gave us a copy, together with such specimens as he had in his possession, and indeed spared no pains to get for us living specimens of such as could he procured in flower.
We tried here to learn what species of wood it is which has been imported into England, and is now known to cabinet-makers by the name of Madeira mahogany, but without much success, as we could not learn that any wood had been exported from the island by that name. The wood, ​however, of the tree called here Vigniatico, Laurus indicus, Linn., bids fair to be the thing, it being of a fine grain and brown like mahogany, from which it is difficult to distinguish it, as is well shown at Dr. Heberden's house, where, in a book-case, vigniatico and mahogany were placed close by each other, and were only to be known asunder by the first being of not quite so dark a colour as the other.
As much of the island as we saw showed evident signs of a volcano having some time or other possibly produced the whole, for we saw no one piece of stone which did not clearly show signs of having been burnt, some very much, specially the sand, which was absolutely cinders. Indeed, we did not see much of the country, but we were told that the whole resembled the specimen we saw of it.
When first approached from seaward the land has a very beautiful appearance, the sides of the hills being entirely covered with vineyards almost as high as the eye can distinguish. This gives a constant appearance of verdure, although at this time nothing but the vines remain green, the grass and herbs being entirely burnt up, except near the rills by which the vines are watered and under the shade of the vines themselves. But even there very few species of plants were in perfection, the greater part being burnt up.
The people here in general seem to be as idle, or rather uninformed, a set, as I ever yet saw; all their instruments, even those with which their wine, the only article of trade in the island, is made, are perfectly simple and unimproved. In making wine the grapes are put into a square wooden vessel, of dimensions depending upon the size of the vineyard to which it belongs, into which the servants get (having taken off their stockings and jackets), and with their feet and elbows squeeze out as much of the juice as they can; the stalks, etc., are then collected, tied together with a rope, and put under a square piece of wood which is pressed down by a lever, to the other end of which is fastened a stone that may be raised up at pleasure by a ​screw. By this means and this only they make their wine, and by this probably Noah made his when he had newly planted the first vineyard after the general destruction of mankind and their arts, although it is not impossible that he might have used a better, if he remembered the methods he had seen before the flood.
It was with great difficulty that some (and not as yet all) of them were persuaded not long ago to graft their vines, and by this means bring all the fruit of a vineyard to be of one sort. Formerly the wine had been spoiled by various inferior kinds of vines, which were nevertheless suffered to grow, and taken as much care of as the best, because they added to the quantity of the wine. Yet they were perfectly acquainted with the use of grafting, and constantly practised it on their chestnut trees, by which means they were brought to bear much sooner than they would have done had they been allowed to remain unimproved.
Wheeled carriages I saw none of any sort or kind; indeed their roads are so intolerably bad, that if they had any they could scarcely make use of them. They have, however, some horses and mules wonderfully clever in travelling upon these roads, notwithstanding which they bring every drop of wine to town upon men's heads in vessels made of goat-skins. The only imitation of a carriage which they have is a board slightly hollowed in the middle, to one end of which a pole is tied by a strap of white leather, the whole machine coming about as near the perfection of an European cart as an Indian canoe does to a boat; with this they move the pipes of wine about the town. I suppose they would never have made use even of this had not the English introduced vessels to contain the wine, which were rather too large to be carried by hand, as they used to do everything else.
A speech of their late Governor is recorded here, which shows in what light they are looked upon even by the Portuguese (themselves, I believe, far behind all the rest of Europe, except possibly the Spaniards). "It was very fortunate," said he, "that the island was not Eden, in which ​Adam and Eve dwelt before the fall, for had it been so, the inhabitants here would never have been induced to put on clothes; so much are they resolved in every particular to follow exactly the paths of their forefathers."
Indeed, were the people here only tolerably industrious, there is scarcely any luxury which might not be produced that either Europe or the Indies afford, owing to the great difference of climate observable in ascending the hills. This we experienced on a visit to Dr. Heberden, who lives about two miles from the town; we left the thermometer when we set out at 74°, and found it there at 66°. The hills produce almost spontaneously vast quantities of walnuts, chestnuts, and apples, but in the town you find some few plants natives of both the Indies, whose flourishing state puts it out of all doubt, that were they taken any care of, they might have any quantity of them. Of such they have the banana (Musa sapientum, Linn.) in great abundance, the guava (Psidium pyriferum, Linn.) not uncommon, and the pine-apple (Bromelia Ananas, Linn.)—of this I saw some very healthy plants in the provision-garden, the mango (Mangifera indica, Linn.)—one plant also of this in the same garden bearing fruit every year, and the cinnamon (Laurus Cinnamomum, Linn.)—very healthy plants of which I saw on the top of Dr. Heberden's house at Funchiale, which had stood there through the winter without any kind of care having been taken of them. These, without mentioning any more, seem very sufficient to show that the tenderest plants might be cultivated here without any trouble; yet the indolence of the inhabitants is so great, that even that is too much for them. Indeed, the policy here is to hinder them as much as possible from growing anything themselves except what they find their account in taking in exchange for corn, though the people might with much less trouble and expense grow the corn themselves. What corn does grow here (it is not much) is of a most excellent quality, large-grained and very fine. Their meat also is very good, mutton, pork, and beef more especially, which was agreed by all of us to be very little inferior to our own, though we Englishmen value ourselves ​not a little on our peculiar excellence in that production. The fat of this was white, like the fat of mutton, but the meat brown and coarse-grained as ours, though much smaller.
The town of Funchiale is situated at the bottom of the bay, very ill-built, though larger than the size of the island seems to deserve. The houses of the better people are in general large, but those of the poorer sort very small, and the streets very narrow and uncommonly ill-paved. The churches here have abundance of ornaments, chiefly bad pictures, and figures of their favourite saints in laced clothes. The Convent of the Franciscans, indeed, which we went to see, had very little ornament; but the neatness with which those fathers kept everything was well worthy of commendation, especially their infirmary, the contrivance of which deserves to be particularly noticed. It was a long room; on one side were windows and an altar for the convenience of administering the sacrament to the sick, on the other were the wards, each just capable of containing a bed, and lined with white Dutch tiles. To every one of these was a door communicating with a gallery which ran parallel to the great room, so that any of the sick might be supplied with whatever they wanted without disturbing their neighbours.
In this convent was a curiosity of a very singular nature: a small chapel whose whole lining, wainscot and ceiling, was entirely composed of human bones, two large thigh bones being laid crossways, with a skull in each of the openings. Among these was a very singular anatomical curiosity: a skull in which one side of the lower jaw was perfectly and very firmly fastened to the upper by an ossification, so that the man, whoever he was, must have lived some time without being able to open his mouth; indeed it was plain that a hole had been made on the other side by beating out his teeth, and in some measure damaging his jawbone, by which alone he must have received his nourishment.
I must not leave these good fathers without mentioning a thing which does great credit to their civility, and at the same time shows that they are not bigots in their religion. ​We visited them on Thursday evening, just before their supper-time; they made many apologies, that they could not ask us to sup, not being prepared; "but," said they, "if you will come to-morrow, notwithstanding that it is a fast with us, we will have a turkey roasted for you."
There are here besides friaries, three or four houses of nuns. To one of these (Saint Clara) we went, and indeed the ladies did us the honour to express great pleasure in seeing us there. They had heard that we were great philosophers, and expected much from us: one of the first questions that they asked was when it would thunder; they then desired to know if we could put them in a way of finding water in their convent, of which it seems they were in want. Notwithstanding that our answers to their questions were not quite so much to the purpose as they expected, they did not at all cease their civilities; for while we stayed, which was about half an hour, I am sure that there was not a fraction of a second in which their tongues did not go at an uncommonly nimble rate.
It remains now that I should say something of the island in general, and then take my leave of Madeira till some other opportunity offers of visiting it again, for the climate is so fine that any man might wish it was in his power to live there under the benefits of English laws and liberty.
The hills here are very high, much higher than any one would imagine; Pico Ruievo, the highest, is 5068 feet, which is much higher than any land that has been measured in Great Britain. The whole island, as I hinted before, has probably been the production of a volcano, notwithstanding which its fertility is amazing: all the sides of the hills are covered with vines to a certain height, above which are woods of chestnut and pine of immense extent, and above them forests of wild timber of kinds not known in Europe, which amply supply the inhabitants with whatever they may want. Among these, some there were whose flowers we were not able to procure, and consequently could ​not settle their genera, particularly those called by the Portuguese mirmulano and pao branco, both which, and especially the first, from the beauty of their leaves, promise to be a great ornament to our European gardens.
The inhabitants here are supposed to number about 80,000, and from the town of Funchiale (its customhouse I mean) the King of Portugal receives £20,000 a year, after having paid the Governor and all expenses of every kind, which may serve to show in some degree of what consequence this little island is to the Crown of Portugal. Were it in the hands of any other people in the world its value might easily be doubled from the excellence of its climate, capable of bearing any kind of crop, a circumstance of which the Portuguese do not take the least advantage.
The coin current here is entirely Spanish, for the balance of trade with Lisbon being in disfavour of this island, all the Portuguese money naturally goes there, to prevent which Spanish money is allowed to pass; it is of three denominations, pistereens, bitts, and half bitts, the first worth about a shilling, the second 6d., the third 3d. They have also copper Portuguese money, but it is so scarce that I did not in my stay there see a single piece.
18th. This evening got under weigh.
20th. Took with the casting-net a most beautiful species of Medusa of a colour equalling, if not exceeding, the finest ultramarine; it was described and called Medusa azurea.
23rd. A fish was taken which was described and called Scomber serpens; the seamen said they had never seen it before, except the first lieutenant, who remembered to have taken one before just about these islands. Sir Hans Sloane in his passage out to Jamaica also took one of these fish, and gives a figure of it (vol. i. t. i. f. 2).
24th. This morning the Pike [of Teneriffe] appeared very plainly, and immensely high above the clouds, as may well ​be imagined by its height, which Dr. Heberden of Madeira, who has been himself upon it, gave as 15,396 feet. The Doctor also says that though there is no eruption of visible fire from it, yet that heat issues from the chinks near the top so strongly, that a person who puts his hand into these is scalded. From him we received, among many other favours, some salt which he supposes to be true natron or nitrum of the ancients, and some exceedingly pure native sulphur, both which he collected himself on the top of the mountain, where large quantities, especially of the salt, are found on the surface of the earth.
25th. Wind continued to blow much as it has done, so we were sure we were well in the trade. Now for the first time we saw flying-fish, whose beauty, especially when seen from the cabin window, is beyond imagination, their sides shining like burnished silver. Seen from the deck they do not appear to such advantage, as their backs, which are dark-coloured, are then presented to view.
27th. About one this morning a flying-fish, the first that had been taken, was brought into the cabin; it flew aboard, chased, I suppose, by some other fish, or may be because he did not see the ship; at breakfast another was brought, which had flown into Mr. Green the astronomer's cabin.
28th. Three birds were to-day about the ship: a swallow, to all appearance the same as our European one, and two Motacillæ; about nightfall one of the latter was taken. About eleven a shoal of porpoises came about the ship, and the fizgig was soon thrown into one of them, but would not hold.
29th. Employed in drawing and describing the bird taken yesterday; called it Motacilla avida. While the drawing was in hand, it became very familiar, so much so that we had a brace made for it in hopes of keeping it alive; as flies were in amazing abundance on board the ship, we had no fear but that the bird would have a plentiful supply of provision.
About noon a young shark was seen from the cabin ​windows following the ship. It immediately took a bait and was hauled on board. It proved to be the Squalus carcharias, Linn., and assisted us in clearing up much confusion, which almost all authors had made about that species. With it came on board four sucking-fish, Echeneis remora, Linn., which were preserved in spirits. Although it was twelve o'clock before the shark was taken, we made shift to have a part of him stewed for dinner, and very good meat he was, at least in the opinion of Dr. Solander and myself, though some of the seamen did not seem to be fond of him, probably from some prejudice founded on the species sometimes feeding on human flesh.
30th. This evening another Motacilla avida was brought to us; it differed scarcely at all from the first taken, except that it was somewhat larger; its head, however, gave us some material, by supplying us with nearly twenty specimens of ticks, which differed but little from Acarus ricinus, Linn.; it was, however, described, and called Acarus motacillæ.
1st October. Bonitos were in great plenty about the ship. We were called up early to see one that had been struck and found it to be the Scomber pelamis, Linn., a drawing being made of it. I confess, however, that I was a good deal disappointed, expecting to find the animal much more beautiful than it proved, though its colours were extremely lively, especially the blue lines on the back (which equalled at least any ultramarine), yet the name, and the accounts I had heard from all who had seen them, made me expect an animal of much greater variety of colour. This consisted merely of blue lines on the back, crossing each other, a changeable gold and purple on the sides, and white with black lines on the bottom of the sides and belly. After having examined and drawn the animal, we proceeded to dissect it, and in the course of the operation were much pleased by the infinite strength we observed in every part of him, especially the stomach, the coats of which were uncommonly strong, especially about the sphincter, or extremity by which the digested meat is discharged; this I suppose is intended to crush and render useful the scales ​and bones of fishes which this animal must continually swallow without separating them from the flesh. From the outside of its scales we took a small animal which seemed to be a louse (if I may so call it), as it certainly stuck to him, and preyed upon the juices which it extracted by suction, probably much to his disquiet: it proved to be Monoculus piscinus, Linn. Baster has given a figure of it in his "Opera Subseciva," but has by some unlucky accident mistaken the head for the tail. Inside the fish were also found two animals which preyed upon him; one Fasciola pelami, Mss., in his very flesh, though near the membrane which covers the intestines; the other Sipunculus piscium, Mss., in the stomach.
2nd. This morning two swallows were about the ship, though we must now be sixty leagues at least from any land; at night one of them was taken, and proved to be Hirundo domestica, Linn.
4th. I went out in a boat and took Dagysa strumosa, Medusa porpita, which we had before called azurea, Mimus volutator and a Cimex, which runs upon the water here in the same manner as C. lacustris does in our ponds in England. Towards evening two small fish were taken under the stern; they were following a shirt which was towing, and showed not the least signs of fear, so that they were taken with a landing-net without the smallest difficulty. They proved to be Balistes monoceros, Linn.
7th. Went out in the boat, and took what is called by the seamen a Portuguese man-of-war, Holotharia physalis, Linn., also Medusa velella, Linn., Onidium spinosum, Mss., Diodon erinaceus, Mss., Dagysa vitrea, Mss., Helix ianthina, Linn., violacca, Mss., and Procellaria oceanica, Mss. The Holothuria proved to be one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen; it consisted of a small bladder, in shape much like the air-bladder of a fish, from the bottom of which descended a number of strings of bright blue and red, some three or four feet in length; if touched, ​these stung the person who touched them in the same manner as nettles, only much more severely. On the top of this bladder was a membrane which he turned either one way or the other to receive the wind; this was veined with pink, in an uncommonly beautiful manner; in short, the whole was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen among the mollusca, though many of them are beautiful.
The floating shells, Helix ianthina and violacea, from their particularity, also deserve mention. They are to be found floating on the top of the water by means of a small cluster of bubbles filled with air, composed of a tenacious slimy substance, not easily parting with its contents; these keep them suspended on the surface of the water, and serve as a nidus for their eggs: it is probable that they never go down to the bottom, or willingly come near any shore, as the shell is of so brittle a construction that few sea-water snails are so thin.
Every shell contains within it about a teaspoonful of liquid, which it freely discharges on being touched; this is of a most beautiful red purple colour, and easily dyes linen clothes; it may be well worth inquiry whether or not this is the purpura of the ancients, as the shell is certainly found in the Mediterranean. We have not yet taken a sufficient quantity of the shells to try the experiment, perhaps we shall soon.
Procellaria oceanica differs very little from P. pelagica, Linn., but from his place of abode so far south, and some small difference in plumage, it is more than likely that he is different in species.
9th. Found two new species of Lepas (vittata and midas) on the stern of the ship; they were both sticking to the bottom, in company with L. anatifera, of which there was great abundance.
10th. Took plenty of Helix ianthina and some few of violacea. Shot the black-toed gull of Pennant; it had not ​yet been described according to Linnæus's system, so called it Larus crepidatus. Its food here seems to be chiefly Helices, on account of its dung being of a lively red colour, much like that which was procured from the shells.
12th. A shark, Squalus carcharias, Linn., taken this morning, and with it two pilot fish. I went out in the boat and took several blubbers. The pilot fish, Gasterosteus ductor, Linn., is certainly as beautiful a fish as can be imagined; it is of a light blue, with cross streaks of darker colour. It is wonderful to see them about a shark, swimming round it without expressing the least signs of fear; what their motive for doing so is, I cannot guess, as I cannot find that they get any provision by it, or any other emolument, except possibly that the company of the shark keeps them free from the attacks of dolphins or other large fish of prey, who would otherwise devour them.
The blubbers taken to-day were Beroe labiata and marsupialis, Mss., the first of which made a pretty appearance in the water by reason of its swimmers, which line its side like fringes, and are of a fine changeable colour; and Callirrhoe bivia, Mss., the most lifeless lump of jelly I have seen; it scarcely seems to be possessed of life, but for one or two motions we saw it make.
13th. A shark taken, but not one pilot fish attended it, which is rather uncommon, as they are seldom without a shoal of from ten to twenty. At noon I went in the boat, and took the Sallee man, Phyllodoce velella, Linn., which is a sailor, but inferior in size to the Portuguese man-of-war, yet not without its beauty, chiefly from the charming blue of the lower side. Its sail is transparent, but not movable, so it trusts itself to the mercy of the winds, without being able to turn to windward, as the Portuguese man-of-war perhaps can. We saw several of these latter to-day, and observed many small fish under their tentacula, which seemed to shelter there, as if with its stings it could defend them from large enemies.
15th. I had the good fortune to see a bird of the shearwater kind, which I shot; it proved not to have been ​described. It was about as large as the common kind, but differed from it in being whiter, especially about the face. We named it Procellaria crepidata, as its feet were like those of the gulls shot last week, black on the outside, but white near the legs. A large shoal of fish were all this day under the ship's stern, playing about, but refusing to take bait. We contrived to take one of them with a fizgig: it was in make and appearance like a carp, weighing nearly two pounds. Its sides were ornamented with narrow lines, and its fins almost entirely covered with scales: called it Chætodon cyprinaceus.
16th. I had the opportunity of seeing a phenomenon I had never before met with, a lunar rainbow which appeared about ten o'clock, very faint, and almost or quite without colour, so that it could be traced by little more than an appearance resembling shade on a cloud.
18th. This evening, trying, as I have often (foolishly no doubt) done, to exercise myself by playing tricks with two ropes in the cabin, I got a fall which hurt me a good deal, and alarmed me the more as the blow was on my head, and two hours after it I was taken with sickness at my stomach, which made me fear some ill consequence.
19th. To-day, thank God, I was much better, and eased of all apprehensions.
21st. To-day the cat killed our bird, Motacilla avida, which had lived with us ever since the 29th September entirely on the flies which it caught for itself: it was hearty and in high health, so that it might have lived a great while longer had fate been more kind.
25th. This morning about eight o'clock we crossed the equinoctial line in about 33° W. from Greenwich, at the rate of four knots, which our seamen said was uncommonly good, the thermometer standing at 79°. (The thermometers used in this voyage are two of Mr. Bird's making, after Fahrenheit's scale, and seldom differ by more than a degree from each other, and that only when they are as high as 80°, in which case the mean reading of the two instruments is set down.) This evening the ceremony of ducking the ​ship's company was performed, as is always customary on crossing the line, when those who have crossed it before claim a right of ducking all that have not. The whole of the ceremony I shall describe.
About dinner-time a list was brought into the cabin containing the names of everybody and thing aboard the ship (in which the dogs and cats were not forgotten); to this was fixed a signed petition from the ship's company desiring leave to examine everybody in that list, that it might be known whether or not they had crossed the line before. This was immediately granted, everybody being called upon the quarter-deck and examined by one of the lieutenants who had crossed the line: he marked every name either to be ducked or let off as their qualifications directed. Captain Cook and Dr. Solander were on the black list, as were I myself, my servants, and dogs, for all of whom I was obliged to compound by giving the duckers a certain quantity of brandy, for which they willingly excused us the ceremony.
Many of the men, however, chose to be ducked rather than give up four days' allowance of wine, which was the price fixed upon, and as for the boys they are always ducked, of course, so that about twenty-one underwent the ceremony.
A block was made fast to the end of the main-yard, and a long line reved through it, to which three pieces of wood were fastened, one of which was put between the legs of the man who was to be ducked, and to this he was tied very fast, another was for him to hold in his hands, and the third was over his head, lest the rope should be hoisted too near the block, and by that means the man be hurt. When he was fastened upon this machine the boatswain gave the command by his whistle, and the man was hoisted up as high as the cross-piece over his head would allow, when another signal was made, and immediately the rope was let go, and his own weight carried him down; he was then immediately hoisted up again, and three times served in this manner, which was every man's allowance. Thus ended the diversion of the day, for the ducking lasted until almost night, and sufficiently diverting it certainly was to ​see the different faces that were made on this occasion, some grinning and exulting in their hardiness, whilst others were almost suffocated, and came up ready enough to have compounded after the first or second duck, had such a proceeding been allowable.
Almost immediately after crossing the tropic the air had sensibly become much damper than usual, though not materially hotter: the thermometer in general stood from 80° to 82°. The nearer we approached to the calms, the damper everything grew; this was very perceptible even to the human body, but more remarkable was its effect upon all kinds of furniture. Everything made of iron rusted so fast that the knives in people's pockets became almost useless, and the razors in cases did not escape; all kinds of leather became mouldy, portfolios and trunks covered with black leather were almost white. Soon afterwards this mould adhered to almost everything; all the books in my library became mouldy, so that they had to be wiped to preserve them.
About this time we came into the calms, which we met with earlier than usual: the thermometer was then at 83°, and we suffered from the heat and damp together. Bathing, however, kept me in perfect health, although many of the ship's company were ill of bilious complaints, which, however, were but of short duration. This continued till we got the S.E. trade, when the air became cooler, but the dampness continued yet: to that I chiefly attribute the ill-success of the electrical experiments, of which I have written an account in separate papers, that the different experiments may appear at one view.
The air, during the whole time since we crossed the tropic, and indeed for some time before, has been nearly of the same temperature throughout the twenty-four hours, the thermometer seldom rising more than a degree during the time the sun is above the horizon; the cabin windows have been open without once being shut ever since we left Madeira.
29th. This evening the sea appeared uncommonly beautiful, ​flashes of light coming from it, perfectly resembling small flashes of lightning, and these so frequent that sometimes eight or ten were visible at the same moment; the seamen were divided in their accounts, some assuring us that it proceeded from fish, who made the light by agitating the salt water, as they called it, in their darting at their prey; while others said that they had often seen them to be nothing more than blubbers (Medasæ). This made us very eager to procure some of them, which at last we did by the help of the landing-net; they proved to be a species of Medusa, which when brought on board appeared like metal violently heated, emitting a white light. On the surface of this animal was fixed a small Lepas of exactly the same colour and almost transparent, not unlike thin starch in which a small quantity of blue is dissolved. In taking these animals three or four species of crabs were also obtained, of which one very small kind gave fully as much light as a glow-worm in England, though the creature was not so large by nine-tenths. Indeed, the sea this night seemed to abound with light in an unusual manner, as if every inhabitant of it furnished its share; as might have been the case, although none retained that property after being brought out of the water except the two above mentioned.
30th. Employed in examining the things caught last night, which being taken by the light of our lamps (for the wind which blows in at the windows always open will not suffer us to burn candles) we could hardly then distinguish into genera, much less into species. We had the good fortune to find that they were all quite new, and named them Medusa pellucens, Lepas pellucens, Clio, Cancer fulgens, and Cancer amplectens, but we had the misfortune to lose two more species of crabs through the glass in which they were contained falling overboard. Two other species of crabs were taken, one of which was very singular.
31st. Find that the crabs taken yesterday were both new; called them vitreus and crassicornis.
5th November. That the trade blows toward the northward upon the coast of Brazil has been observed long ago, although ​I question whether our navigators are yet sufficiently apprised of it. Piso, in his Natural History of the Brazils, says that the winds along shore are constantly to the northward from October to March, and to the southward from March to October. Dampier also, who certainly had as much experience as most men, says the same thing, advising ships outward bound to keep to the westward, where they are almost certain to find the trade more easterly than in mid-channel, where it is sometimes due south, or within half a point of it, as we ourselves experienced.
6th. Towards evening the colour of the water was observed to change, upon which we sounded and found ground at thirty-two fathoms. The lead was cast three times between six and ten without finding a foot's difference in the depth or quality of the bottom, which was encrusted with coral. We supposed this to be the tail of a great shoal laid down in all our charts by the name of Abrolhos, on which Lord Anson struck soundings on his outward bound passage.
7th. About noon long ranges of a yellowish colour appear upon the sea, many of them very large, one (the largest) might be a mile in length and three or four hundred yards in width. The seamen in general affirmed roundly that they were the spawn of fishes, and that they had often seen the same appearance before. Upon taking up some of the water thus coloured, we found it to be caused by innumerable small atoms, each pointed at the end, and of a yellowish colour, none of them above a quarter of a line in length. In the microscope they appeared to be fasciculi of small fibres interwoven one within the other, not unlike the nidi of some Phryganeæ, which we call caddises; what they were, or for what purpose designed, we could not even guess, nor so much as distinguish whether their substance was animal or vegetable.
8th. At daybreak to-day we made the land, which proved to be the Continent of South America, in latitude 21° 16′. About ten we saw a fishing-boat, whose occupants told us that the country formed part of the captainship of Espirito Santo.
​Dr. Solander and I went on board this boat, in which were eleven men (nine of whom were blacks), who all fished with lines. We bought the chief part of their cargo, consisting of dolphins, two kinds of large pelagic scombers, sea bream, and the fish called in the West Indies Welshman, for which they made us pay nineteen shillings and sixpence. We had taken Spanish silver with us, which we imagined was the currency of the country; we were therefore not a little surprised that they asked us for English shillings, and preferred two, which we by accident had, to the pistereens, though after some words they took them also. The business of the people seemed to consist in going a good distance from land and catching large fish, which they salted in bulk, in the middle of their boat, which was arranged for that purpose. They had about two quintals of fish, laid in salt, which they offered for sale for sixteen shillings, and would doubtless have taken half the money had we been inclined to buy them; but fresh provisions were all we wanted, and the fresh fish which we bought served for the whole ship's company.
Their provisions for the sea consisted of a cask of water and a bag of the flour of cassada, which they call Farinha de Pao, or wooden flour, a very proper name for it, as indeed it tastes more like powdered chips than anything else.
Their method of drinking from their cask was truly primitive and pleased me much: the cask was large, as broad as the boat, and exactly fitted a place made for it in the ballast; they consequently could not get at the bottom of it to put in a tap by which the water might be drawn out. To remedy this difficulty they made use of a cane about three feet long, hollow, and open at each end, this the man who wanted to drink desired his neighbour to fill for him, which he did by putting it into the cask, and laying the palm of his hand over the uppermost end, prevented the water from running out of the lower, to which the drinker applied his mouth, and the other man taking away his hand, let the liquor run into the drinker's mouth till he was satisfied.
​Soon after we came on board, a Sphinx was taken, which proved to be quite new, and a small bird, Tanagra Jacarini, Linn.; it seemed, however, from Linnæus's description, as well as Edwards' and Brisson's, that neither of them had seen the bird, which was in reality a Loxia nitens.
The fish brought on board proved to be Scomber amia, S. falcatus, Coryphæna, Hippurus ?, Sparus pagrus and Sciæna rubens; the second and last not being before described, we called them by these names.
10th. Species of seaweed now came floating by the ship. It proved to be Sargasso, Fucus natans, which is generally supposed to increase upon the surface of the sea in the same manner as duckweed (Lemna) does on fresh-water, without having any root; this, however, plainly showed that it had been rooted in the coral rock on the bottom, as two specimens particularly had large lumps of the coral still adhering to them. Among the weed were some few animals, but scarcely worth mentioning: one Balistes, but quite a fry, so young that it was impossible to refer it to its species; also a worm, which proved to be Nereis pelagica.
12th. This morning we were abreast of the land, which proved, as we thought last night, to be the island just within Cape Frio, called in some maps the Isle of Frio. About noon we saw the hill called the Sugar Loaf, which is just by the harbour's mouth, but it was a long way off yet, so we had no hopes of reaching it this night.
The shore from Cape Frio to this place has been one uninterrupted beach of the whitest colour I ever saw, which they tell me is a white sand.
In the course of this evening we approached very near the land, and found it very cold, to our feelings at least: the thermometer at ten o'clock stood at 68¼°, which gave us hopes that the country would be cooler than we should expect from the accounts of travellers, especially M. Biron, who says that no business is done here from ten to two on account of the intense heat.
13th. This morning the harbour of Rio Janeiro was right ahead, about two leagues off, but it being quite calm ​we made our approach very slowly. The sea was inconceivably full of small vermes, which we took without the least difficulty: they were almost all new, except Beroe labiata, Medusa radiata, fimbriata, crystallina, and a Dagysa. Soon after a fishing-boat came aboard and sold us three scombers, which proved to be new, and were called S. salmoneus. His bait was Clupea chinensis, of which we also procured specimens.
* ↑ i.e. the pratique boat.
* ↑ Persea indica, Spreng.
* ↑ 6059 feet by more recent measurement.
* ↑ Probably Apollonias canariensis, Nees; and Oreodaphne fœtens, Nees.
* ↑ Here Banks has a list of 18 Madeiran fish and 299 plants.
* ↑ For notes on the naturalists and travellers mentioned throughout the Journal, see pp. xliii.–li.
* ↑ 12,300 feet by more recent measurement.
* ↑ This cannot be identified.
* ↑ The Portuguese man-of-war is now known as Physalia, and is classed among the Cœlenterata.
* ↑ These two species are not Helices, but belong to the genus Ianthina.
* ↑ The purple of the ancients has since been proved to have been derived from a species of Murex or of Purpura.
* ↑ An account of these will be found at the end of the volume.