108 Naturalist at Large 



suffered from the introduction of a more curious job lot 

 of beasts than most island faunae have to cope with. Feral 

 cats and rats abounded; also donkeys, wild cattle, and, I 

 have heard it said, even hogs and horses. At any rate the 

 scrubby vegetation surrounding the great saline ponds in 

 the middle of the island reminded one a good deal of East 

 Africa as a drove of timid jackasses would scamper off 

 ahead of the intruder. 



James Greenway, who was much more agile than I, suc- 

 ceeded in landing on Sheep Cay, a tiny isolated remnant 

 of the greater islands separated by but a short strait of 

 salt water from Inagua itself. But this stretch of salt water 

 had saved the day as far as I was concerned, for Jim waded 

 out to where we could pick him up, carrying a canvas 

 bag which he had taken ashore, and which now contained 

 two treasures. One was a handsome little species of boa 

 which turned out to be completely new, the other a very 

 distinct Alsophis. I suspect that these once were abundant 

 all over Inagua and that they have been extirpated by the 

 introduced vermin. At any rate as far as I know no one 

 had ever found them on the large island and it had been 

 visited by a number of naturalists. 



Now comes the remarkable part of my story. William, 

 Josiah, and Douglas Erickson made a careful scientific 

 search of the possibilities of utilizing the old salt pans, and 

 through Josiah (whom we all call Jim, and who was one 

 of the first of my many honorary nephews) I have been 

 able to keep track of what these wonderful young men 

 have done. To be sure the name of Erickson is synonymous 

 with ingenuity. Think of the Monitor in the Civil War 

 and the screw propeller on every steamer. I need say no 



