OF FULGORA CANDELARIA. 53 



homines, race perverse et implacable, ne detruiront point le 

 fruit dans sa maturite." The cavern alluded to is that of 

 Ataruipe, near the rapids of the Oronoco. You must pardon 

 me for quoting beyond my subject, but it was so beautiful 

 I could not leave off. 



. In turning over a copy of Oviedo, I met with a whole 

 chapter on " flies and other winged insects, that fly and shine 

 by night." I read it twice over, and will, if you please, give 

 you the substance of it in English as near as I can recollect. 

 " There are in all these islands many flies, or winged insects, 

 and beetles, which shine by night, and fly about, like those 

 which, in Castille, are called luciernagas (glow-worms) and 

 otherwise, and which fly about in the summer, which do the 

 same here almost at all times, because there is here little dif- 

 ference between the length of the days and nights, and the 

 weather is always mild ; for in this island of Espanola, and the 

 other islands round about, the heat is never excessive, and cold 

 is rarely felt, save when the north wind blows on the sierras, 

 of which there are many. There are, therefore, here, many 

 and diflerent sorts of these glow-worms, but mostly small. 

 However, there is one in particular, which is called Cocuyo, 

 which is a thing much to be noticed. This is an animal well 

 known in this island of Espanola (Hayti) and in the neigh- 

 bouring ones, and is a species of beetle as large as the last 

 joint of the thumb, or rather less; it has two hard wings, 

 below which are two thinner wings, which it protects and 

 covers with its upper ones when it ceases to fly. It has eyes 

 which shine like candles, so that whenever it flies it illuminates 

 the air as would the flame ; and if, at the beginning of night, 

 when it is just growing dark, any one should take a Cocuyo 

 in his hand, all who needed to light a candle, and saw it from 

 a distance, would come thither to get a light, thinking it to be 

 one already lighted. In like manner, shut up in a dark room, 

 they give sufficient light to see very well to read or write a 

 letter. And if one puts together four or five of these Cocuyos^ 

 and ties or strings them together, they serve as well as a 

 tolerable lantern in the fields or mountains, or any where soever, 

 the night being very dark. When war was carrying on in this 

 island of Espanola, and the other islands, the Christians and 

 Indians made use of these lights in order not to lose one 

 another. And especially the Indians, as being most dexterous 



