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.
