Joseph Banks

“ 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 here under the benefits of English laws and liberty. ”

“ It was with great dificulty 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, tho before the vine which it producd had been spoild by different sorts of bad ones which were nevertheless sufferd to grow, and taken as much care of as the best, because they added to the quantity of the wine. ”

“ Wind continued to blow much as it had done so we were sure we were well in the trade; now for the first time we saw plenty of flying fish, whose bea [u] ty especialy when seen from the cabbin windows is beyond imagination, their sides shining like burnishd silver; when seen from the Deck they do not appear to such advantage as their backs are then presented to the view, which are dark colourd. ”

“ It is now time to give some account of the genus of Dagysa, of which there are already six species taken, all agreeing in many particulars vastly well but cheifly in this very singular one, that they have a hole at each end, which holes Communicate 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, for several sorts are seen most generaly Joind together, gemma more particularly which adhere in clusters of some hundreds irregularly shap'd ”

“ The hills here are very high, much higher than any one would imagine, Pico Ruevo the highest is 5068 ft which is much higher than any land that has been measured in Great Britain; indeed as I hinted before the whole Island has probably been the production of a Volcano, notwishstanding which its fertility is amazing, all the sides of the hills are coverd with vines to a certain hight, 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. ”

“ But our very short stay which was only five Days inclusive 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 the hight of the vintage, when nothing is green in the countrey but just on the verge of small brooks, by which these vines are waterd ”

“ He is of a new genus and calld [] of which we took another species who had no beauty to boast, but this which we called opalinum shone in the water with all the splendor and variety of colours that we observe in a real opal; he livd in the Glass of salt water in which he was put for examination several hours; darting about with great agility, and at every motion shewing an almost infinite variety of changeable colours. ”

“ When you first aproach it from seaward it has a very beautifull appearance, the sides of the hills being intirely coverd with vineyards almost as high as the eye can distinguish, which make a constant appearance of verdure tho at this time nothing but the vines remaind green, the grass and herbs being intirely burnt up except near the sides of the rills of water by which the vines are waterd, and under the shade of the vines themselves; tho these very few Species of plants were in perfection the greater part being burnt up. ”

“ The wind was now fair and we went very pleasantly on towards our destind port, tho rather too fast for any natural Enquiries, for my own part I could well dispence with a much slower pace, but I fancy few in the ship, Dr Solander excepted, are of the same opinion, tho I beleive Every body envyed our easy contented countenances during the last Calm, which brought so much food to our pursuits.
1768 September 8. Blew fresh today, but the wind was very fair so nobody complaind, nor would they was the wind much stronger, so impatient has the Calms and foul wind made every body ”

“ The town of Fonchiale is situated at the Bottom of the Bay, very ill Built, tho larger than the size of the Island seems to deserve. The houses of the bettermost people are in general large but those of the poorer sort very small, and the streets very narrow and uncommonly ill pavd. ”

“ Indeed the hills produce almost spontaneously vast plenty of Wallnutts, chestnutts, and apples, but in the town you find some few plants natives of both the Indies, whose flourishing state put it out of all doubt that were they taken any care of they might have any quantity of them. ”

“ About one today we crossd the tropick, the night most intolerably hot, the Thermometer standing all night at 78 in the cabbin tho every window was open.
1768 September 27. About one this morn a flying fish was brought into the cabbin, the first that had been taken; it flew aboard, I suppose chasd by some other fish, or maybe merely because he did not see the ship; at breakfast another was brought, which had flown into Mr Green the Astronomers Cabbin. This whole day we saild at the rate of 7 knotts, sometimes a fathom or two more the wind being rather stronger than it usualy is in the trade. ”

“ Calm today; we were employd in fishing with the casting net and were fortunate in taking several specimens of Dagysa saccata adhering together, sometimes to the Lengh of a yard or more, and shining in the water with very beautifull Colours; but another insect which we took today was possest of more beautiful Colouring than any thing in nature I have ever seen, hardly excepting gemms. ”

“ Coast of Spain Still Blew, Mother Careys chickens had not yet left us, but towards night wind slackened so that we were again tolerably easy; by our reckoning we must make some part of the coast of Spain before Morning.
1768 September 2. This Morn about 7 saw the coast of Gallicia between Cape Ortegal and Finisterre; weather tolerably fine, so that we could use the casting net, which brought up two kinds of Animals, different from any before taken; they came up in Clusters, both sorts indifferen [t] ly in each Cluster, tho much fewer of the Horned ones than of the others. ”

“ These without mentioning any more seem very sufficient to shew 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 of the English here is to hinder them as much as possible from growing any thing themselves except what they find their account in taking in exchange for Corn, tho the people might with much Less trouble and expence grow the corn themselves. What corn grows here, which indeed is not much, is of a most excellent quality, Large graind, and very fine ”

“ They seem to [be] two species of one genus, but are not at all reducible to any genus hitherto describd.
1768 September 3. Blew fresh this morn. We were employd all day in describing the animals taken yesterday; found them to be of a new genus and of the same with that taken on the 28 of August Calld the genus Dagysa from the likeness of one Species to a Gem. Towards Even wind fair Settled tolerably fine. ”