256 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



you must be very active to capture one. The little 

 negro and Indian boys are very expert at it and catch 

 them by means of slip-nooses of grass, attached to the 

 ends of sticks, which they pass over the heads of the 

 lizards as they lie asleep in the sun. They are not 

 poisonous, though repulsive to many, and though 

 some of them will bite severely, they do not inflict 

 dangerous wounds. 



There are many hideous forms, especially among 

 those of South America, like the Basilisk and the 

 Flying Dragon ; but in the West Indies there is none 

 of more hideous appearance than the iguana. Never 

 was more harmless creature invested with more fright- 

 ful aspect. Clothed with scales, like the alligator, 

 but finer and more flexible, with a long, slender and 

 powerful tail, a gular pouch, hanging like a dew-lap 

 beneath its throat, and having along its back from 

 head to tail a crest of spines, it would not be attractive 

 were it not for its beautiful colors of varying green and 

 yellow, and its brightly glancing eye. In the islands 

 where it exists it is eagerly sought as food, and its 

 flesh is palatable and delicate, as I can testify from 

 experience, being white, tender, and nutritious. 



The good father Pere Labat (worthy missionary 

 and bon vivant withal) compares fricasseed guana to 

 chicken for the whiteness of its flesh and delicacy of 

 its flavor. He gives a delightful account of catching 

 one, two hundred vears a^o : 



"We were attended by a negro who carried a long 

 rod, at one end of which was a piece of whip-cord 

 with a running knot. After beating about the bushes 

 for some time, the negro discovered our game basking 

 in the sun on the dry limb of a tree. Hereupon he 



