WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 339 



trees and whack them with a lance ; and when they come and bite 

 the tree where the man. is who is making the noise, he kills them 

 with his lance. They run in packs, and are usually led by the meanest 

 and thinnest of the lot, who is their captain. Both they and the 

 tatabaras have their navel on their backbone ; after killing them, it 

 has to be removed immediately because of the stench it makes. They 

 are of the build of wild boars, and their flesh is of the same sort. 



1019. There are animals they call perico ligero (sloths) which 

 have a melancholy cry and move with extreme slowness and delibera- 

 tion. There are otters and guadatinajas, both land and water kinds, 

 which are hunted with dogs and snares. There are many species of 

 snakes, large and small, land and water sorts ; most of them are very 

 poisonous ; there is no remedy for a water-snake's bite. 



1020. They have royal eagles and very fine bastards ; many sorts of 

 sparrow hawks, herons, guaguacos, gulls, paujies, turkeys, the bird 

 called urri, parrots, macaws large and small, parrokeets, catalnicas 

 (lories?) of beautiful and varied colors, nightingales and many other 

 birds with sweet and harmonious songs. There are rabrahorcados, 

 royal and bastard ducks, and many kinds of small ones, which are 

 called zarzuelas ; ravens, vultures, and turkey buzzards or zopilotes ; 

 some have red legs and hazel feathers, but most are black. 



1021. They have partridges larger than our hens, with blue legs 

 and hazel plumage ; they call them guagraes, and catch or hunt them 

 with snares ; there are others exactly like ours. They have turtledoves 

 and the carpenter bird (woodpecker), with red crest and breast, 

 which mauls and pecks at the trees as if recalling the story of King 

 Tereus. There are other birds they call picos largos (long bills) ; 

 they have them very large, yellow and black. The gulls nest on the 

 sandbanks of the Rio Cauca; they lay their eggs on the sand; they 

 are almost as big and good as hen's eggs, and so they hatch them 

 and carry them off. The turtles also lay their eggs in the sand and 

 cover them over with it ; they hatch under the heat and virtue of the 

 sun, and the tiny turtles come straight out and make for the water. 

 They get eggs and turtles in the backwaters of the river. The 

 alligators hatch their eggs the same way ; they are not to be found 

 usually at Caceres, the river having such a rapid current there ; some 

 have come up with the boats from Mompos ; they have likewise 

 brought rats, or large mice, which have come off the ships arriving 

 from Spain. 



