Captain Dampier Requested That We Would
Consent To Prolong Our Cruize For Six Weeks Longer; After Which He
Promised To Permit Us To Sail For India To Some Factory, Where We Might
All Dispose Of Ourselves As We Thought Best For Our Advantage.
To this
we all agreed, and we accordingly cruized along shore to the S.E. in
sight of land,
Passing the noted ports of Acapulco,Puerto de los
Angelos, Guatalco, and several others; when we proposed to seek out a
proper place in which to water our ships and bark, previous to our
intended voyage to the East Indies; and, after some consideration, the
Gulf of Amapalla or Fonseca was fixed upon for that purpose.
On the 5th January, 1705, we met with such vast quantities of fish, that
in half an hour we caught near three score albicores, from sixty to
ninety pounds weight each, besides vast quantities of other fish. The
albicore is about four or five feet long, weight from 50 to 100 and
even 150 pounds. It has eleven fins on its back, one pretty large, a
second of middle size, and nine small yellow fins near the tail; one
large fin on each side near the gills; and one near the middle of the
belly. This is a very fleshy fish, having hardly any bones besides the
back bone, and is extraordinary good eating. It has prodigious strength,
while in the water, and preys mostly on flying fish, as do dolphins and
bonetoes.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 495 of 825
Words from 134069 to 134319
of 224764
