joutel's historical journal.
91
being the worst sailer of our little squadron, it was resolved that she should carry the light, and the others to follow it. M. de la Salle, M. Cavelier, his brother, the Fathers Zenobrius and Anastasius, both Recollets, M. Chedeville, and I, embarked on the said Aimable, and all sailed the 25th of November.
We met with some cairns and some violent winds, which, nevertheless, carried us in sight of the island of Cuba on the 30th of the same month, and it then bore from us N. W. There we altered our course and steered W. and by N. The 31st, the weather being somewhat close, we lost sight of that island, then stood W. N. W,, and the sky clearing up, made an observation at noon, and found we were in 19° 45' of north latitude ; by which we judged that the currents had carried us off to sea from the island of Cuba.
On the first of December we discovered the island of Cayman. The 2d we steered N. W. and by W. in order to come up with the island of Cuba, in the northern latitude of 20° 32'. The 3d we discovered the little island of Pines, lying close to Cuba. The 4th, we weathered a point of that island, and the wind growing scant, were forced to ply upon a bowline, and make several trips till the 5th, at night, when we anchored in a creek, in 15 fathom water, and continued there till the 8th.
During that short stay, M. de la Salle went ashore with several gentlemen of his retinue on the island of Pines, shot an alligator dead, and returning aboard, perceived he had lost two of his volunteers, who had wandered into the woods, and perhaps lost their way. We fired several musket shots to call them, which they did not hear, and I was ordered to expect them ashore, with 30 musqueteers to attend me.    They returned the next morning with much trouble.
In the meantime our soldiers, who had good stomachs, boiled and eat the alligator M. de la Salle had killed. The flesh of it was white, and had a taste of musk, for which reason I could not eat it. One of our hunters killed a wild swine, which the inhabitants of those islands call maron. There are of them in the island of St. Domingo, or Hispaniola. They are of the breed of those the Spaniards left in the islands when they first discovered them, and run wild in the woods. I sent it to M. de la Salle, who presented the one-half to M. de Beaujeu.
That island is all over very thick wooded, the trees being of several sorts, and some of them bear a fruit resembling the acorn, but harder. There are abundance of parrots, larger than those at Petit Gouave, a great number of turtle doves and other birds, and a sort of créa-
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