Reptiles in the West Indies 129 



cowboys all took up places on fence posts hither and yon, 

 for Gomez was in terror of assassination. After the General 

 had spoken to several other people, Dr. Riquena, his per- 

 sonal physician, came up and motioned for Herbert and 

 me to step forward. We did. The General shook us cor- 

 dially by the hand, his own being encased in thin, purplish 

 silk gloves. It was said that he wore these and changed 

 them frequently to make it difficult for anyone to rub 

 poison on his fingers which he might afterwards get in 

 his mouth. This of course is pure hearsay; nevertheless 

 the gloves were there. When he found that I could speak 

 Spanish, he began asking questions. Before long Hagenbeck 

 was sent for and he and I started to make a tour of the 

 zoo, charged to return later on and report to the General 

 on what we had seen. 



The zoo was something which I shall never forget. It 

 was utterly unlike any other. For instance, its several enor- 

 mous specimens of hippopotamus lived in a pretty little 

 lake in a vast field where giraffes, zebras, and a host of 

 other antelopes wandered about quite as if they were at 

 home and in country similar to East Africa in appearance. 

 He had truly an extraordinary collection. A few specimens 

 stood out particularly. He had a remarkable lot of the rare 

 spectacled bears found in the Andes of several South Amer- 

 ican states and the only bear south of Mexico. His paca- 

 ranas, which look like nothing but overgrown black bea- 

 vers with stubby tails, were his most priceless zoological 

 gems. They are the largest of the strictly terrestrial ro- 

 dents and they represent the monotypic genus Dinomys. 



While we were looking at the Dinomys the General 

 walked up. Of course his animals were not labeled and 



