Note 3 — DAMPIER IN THE PHILIPPINES

Of the Jew-fish, Dampier says (i, p. 249): “The Jew-fish is a very good Fish, and I judge so called by the English, because it hath Scales and Fins, therefore a clean Fish, according to the Levitical Law, and the Jews at Jamaica buy them, and eat them very freely. It is a very large Fish, shaped much like a Cod, but a great deal bigger; one will weigh 3, or 4, or 5 hundred weight. It hath a large Head, with great Fins and Scales, as big as an Half-Crown, answerable to the bigness of his Body. It is very sweet Meat, and commonly fat. This Fish lives among Rocks; there are plenty of them in the West-Indies, about Jamaica, and the Coast of Caraccos; but chiefly in these Seas, especially more Westward.” ↑