102 A VOYAGE TO Book ÍÍ. 



into a ball, and drops from the branches. At the foot 

 of this tree he continues till all the fruits arc confu ed, 

 never ilirring till hunger forces him to fcek again for 

 food. 



Serpents are here as numerous and deadly as at 

 Carthagena ; and toads* innumerable, fwaiming not 

 only in the damp and marfiiy places, as in other c oun- 

 tries, but even in the ftrects, courts of great houfcs, and 

 all open places in general. The great numbers of them, 

 and their appearance after the lean fhower, have induced 

 fome to imagine, that every drop of water becomes a 

 toad; and though they allege, as a proof, the extraor- 

 dinary increafe of them on the fmalieft fnower, their 

 opinion docs not feem to me well founded. It is 

 evident, that thefe reptiles abound both in the forefls 

 and neighbouring rivers, and even in the town lííelf; 

 and produce a prodigious quantity of animalcula, from 

 whence, according to the bert naturaliiis, thefe reptiles 

 are formed. Thefe animalcula either rife in the va- 

 pours, which form the rain, and falling together with 

 it on the ground, which is extremely heated by the 

 rays of thf; fun, or being already depolited in it by the 

 toads, grow, and become animated, in no Icfs numbers 

 than were formerly fcen in Europe, But fome of them 

 which appear after rains being fo large as to meafure 

 iix inches in length, they cannot be imagined the ef- 

 fect of an inflantaneous produítion ; I am therefore 

 inclined to think, from my own obfervations, that this 

 part of the country, being remarkably moifl, is very 

 well adapted to nouriih tiie breed of thofe creatures, 

 which love watery places ; and therefore avoid thofe 

 parts of the ground expofed to the rays of the fun, 

 feeking others where the earth is foft, and there form 

 thcmfelves cavities in the ground, to enjoy the moif-r 



* Called by the natives ferpos ; they appear every dewy evening 

 in as great numbers as after a ihower. I never heard of the opinion 

 the author fpeaks of. A. 



. ture ; 



