BENEATH TROPIC SEAS 



a good-sized wriggling fish. This novel method 

 of fishing yielded us half a dozen of an interesting 

 member of the genus Cichlasoma. These belong 

 to the family Cichlidce which are found only in the 

 fresh waters of the tropics. They seem to be 

 excellent parents and one species which I studied 

 at Kartabo in British Guiana was always found in 

 pairs. \Mienever danger threatened, the brood of 

 fifty to a hundred young would dash into the mouths 

 of the parents, where they would be kept until it 

 was safe for them to swim or be spat out. Near 

 this Haitian lake I saw, in a stream, one of these 

 burrowing Cichlasoma's with a dense cloud of 

 young about it. As I started to wade in its di- 

 rection, the young vanished with amazing celerity, 

 so it may be that here too the same sanctuary is 

 in use. 



After learning what I could of the fish in the 

 lowland lakes I hoped to find something exciting 

 in the streams of the uplands. On the eighth of 

 March, led by the indomitable wife of General 

 Russell, we motored to Petionville, and there 

 mounted horses for a long ride up into the moun- 

 tains. Our steeds were small in stature, but great 

 in emotion — stallions all — who neighed shrilly all 

 the way, pranced with excitement at the sight of 

 every cow and goat along the trail, and reared 

 on their hind legs and pawed and bit one another 

 at every opportunity. 



The first few miles we rode beneath great trees, 

 draped with grey moss, among the foliage of which 



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