Page 377

Joseph Banks's Descriptions of Places

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Batavia (continued) make to be the Distinguishing mark of our Species; on the other hand they are found wild not only on Java but on several of the Eastern Islands. The flesh of those that I eat at Batavia was rather finer Graind than European Beef, but much Drier and always terribly lean. Buffaloes are very plentifull, but the Dutch are so much prejudic’d against them that they will not at all eat their flesh nor even drink their milk, affirming that it causes fevers; the natives however and Chinese do both, and have no such opinion concerning them. Their sheep, which are of that sort whose ears hang down and have hair instead of wool, are most intolerably bad, lean, and tough to the last degree; they have however a few Cape sheep which are excellent, tho intolerably dear, we gave 2£/5s apeice for four which we bought for sea stock, the heavyest of which weighd only 45lb. Their Goats are much of a par with their sheep, but their hogs Voyaging Accounts © Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) 451, February 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-377.html