46 CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE. 



And from the palm to drain its fresh'ning wine, 

 More bounteous far than all the frantic juice 

 "Which Bacchus pours." 



Here, like a feudal baron of old, he forms for himself 

 a stronghold, sallying forth like a freebooter, to feast 

 on the spoils of the grove. Curious stories are related of 

 these marauders, and it has been gravely asserted that 



they have been known to ascend the tall stalks of the 

 cocoa palms for the purpose of detaching and throwing 

 down the nuts. We are not prepared to say that par- 

 ticular palms (when in a more than ordinarily sloping 

 posture) may not been have climbed in the manner stated 



