After thirty-eight days' journey we arrived on the opposite side to that
on which we landed: here we found some blue mould, as cheese-eaters
call it, from whence spring all kinds of rich fruit; instead of
breeding mites it produced peaches, nectarines, apricots, and a thousand
delicious fruits which we are not acquainted with. In these trees, which
are of an amazing size, were plenty of birds' nests; amongst others
was a king-fisher's of prodigious magnitude; it was at least twice
the circumference of the dome of St. Paul's Church in London. Upon
inspection, this nest was made of huge trees curiously joined together;
there were, let me see (_for I make it a rule always to speak within
compass_), there were upwards of five hundred eggs in the nest, and each
of them was as large as four common hogsheads, or eight barrels, and
we could not only see, but hear the young ones chirping within. Having,
with great fatigue, cut open one of these eggs, we let out a young one
unfeathered, considerably larger than twenty full-grown vultures. Just
as we had given this youngster his liberty the old kingfisher lighted,
and seizing our captain, who had been active in breaking the egg, in
one of her claws, flew with him above a mile high, and then let him drop
into the sea, but not till she had beaten all his teeth out of his mouth
with her wings.

Dutchmen generally swim well: he soon joined us, and we retreated to our
ship. On our return we took a different route, and observed many strange
objects. We shot two wild oxen, each with one horn, also like the
inhabitants, except that it sprouted from between the eyes of these
animals; we were afterwards concerned at having destroyed them, as we
found, by inquiry, they tamed these creatures, and used them as we do
horses, to ride upon and draw their carriages; their flesh, we were
informed, is excellent, but useless where people live upon cheese