1. They had double Ventricles, that together reached the length of their Bodies; to the Bottom of which, were connected the Small-Guts, about twice as thick as a Goose-quill.
2. In the first Ventricle or Craw, the Fish they had swallowed (70, 80, or 100) the Bigness of smaller Sprats, lay whole and unaltered.
3. In the lower Ventricle, those little Fish changing to a paler Colour, were nigh the Fund of it mashed and macerated, and (what was principally meant by reciting any Observations) here also the Mass or Pulp had an intimate Mixture of numbers of slender, lively Worms in it; which to me, was a Matter of Speculation, for finding no such Insects in the small Fish above, which I suspected at first might have been their Prey, I concluded it here to be the common Accident of Concoction, a certain Consequence of Heat and Putrefaction, which are conquered by farther Digestion, and pass into insensibility again; for the Small-guts, after a little Distance from the Stomach, had none, or rather made part of a yellow, chylous Substance.
Quære? whether other, or all Creatures have not such a Principle of Concoction, more or less discernible in some, than others, there; tho’ imperceptible, and differently shaped and coloured, as is the Nature of the Food swallowed, and the Strength and Heat of the Animal swallowing. Vercellonius supposes the Thyroide Gland in Man, to be a little Nidus of verminous Eggs, generated there, and transmitted through subtle Ducts to the Oesophagus and Stomach, to impart a vital Character to the Chyle.
I should have proceeded here to some other natural Curiosities, but omit it, as being already more accurately done by Sir Hans Sloan, in 2 Vol. 4to.
The Weymouth and Swallow having now fixed their Jury-masts, and finished their Repairs, weighed from Port-Royal on New-year’s Day, anchoring out at the Kays, where we stayed till the 7th of February, and then left the Island.
There are two Passages used for returning hence to Europe; heavy Sailers, and Fleets, use the Gulph of Florida, because assisted by a constant Current to the Northward, (already spoke to;) lighter, and well-manned Ships, that called the Windward Passage; First, as the safest and shortest Navigation, all the Difficulty being, plying to the East End of Jamaica; for which, Secondly, there succeeds generally a Windward Current, on new or full Moons; or a Course of fiery Breezes, bringing in a fuller Sea, and therefore the Reflux more perceptible. Thirdly, keeping nigh shore, the Land-breezes sometimes favour the Design.
We chose this way in our Return home, and with half Masts worked to Windward of Port Morant, in six or seven Days, a Distance of 12 Leagues, where the Passage is in a manner gained, because the Lee of Hispaniola makes a smooth Water, and deflects the Trade-Wind often, in Flaws to advantage. We indeed met Calms for three or four Days, but on the 17th, got sight of the little Island Navasia, which the Jamaicans use in Boats, to kill Guanas, an amphibious Creature that breed in abundance at the Roots of old Trees, some of them 3 foot long, a Lizard Shape, with sharp, black, and green Scales; the Flesh firm, white, and as Sailors say, makes good Broth.
The same Evening we anchored in Donna Maria Bay, at the West End of Hispaniola, the usual Stop, especially of the King’s Ships in those Parts, for Wood and Water: We filled our Cask at a Valley, a Mile Southward of the two brown Clifts, very good Water, but on some Winds the Sea gets over the Bar. There are two other Places used, nigher those Clifts, and not so easily overflown. Here we bought some jerked Hog’s Flesh from two or three French Hunters, belonging to Petit Guavas.
At leaving the Bay, a strong S W. Wind soon set us between the Capes St. Nicholas and Maize; when we came into small Winds, and a Current in our favour, the old Bahama Strait, and Islands dispers’d here, showing this wherever they contract the Waters, and lessens again, as we open to a larger Sea.