270 



a.m., under a clear and cloudless sky, we wended our way through 

 a few beautiful young Cacao cultivations, over which stood the 

 bright scarlet tops of the Immortel tree (j), then in full bloom, 

 and in a few minutes were in the forest. Here and there huge 

 Silk-cottons (k), Cedars (l), Figuiers (m) and Balatas (n) were 

 seen, and palms from four feet to 150 feet higli, while ferns of 

 many kinds made themselves conspicuous by the incessant 

 vibration of their tender and graceful leaves. The heads of the 

 taller palms could only be seen, however, from the tops of hills, 

 rising over the wavy, oft liane-crested forest. The ferjis, among 

 which we noticed the beautiful silver-fern (o), are invariably 

 found by water and abound in the ravines. The vanilla (p), 

 whose thick and fleshy vines peculiarly aflTect the ridges of poor 

 hills, climbing to the tops of their hardwood trees, where they 

 expand in liane-like festoons, from which in the season, as now, 

 pend scores of pods, richly fragrant when ripe. The thousand 

 lilies (q), whose dark green leaves line the banks of the slow- 

 running streams, the various rich-coloured orchids (?•) hanging 

 from the branches of their majestic supporters ; the graceful form 

 of a harmless cribo (s) snake, Spilotes corais, wending its way in 

 search of its prey; the sudden bound of a startled deer (t) ; the 

 " roar " (not howl) tailing off with a grunt (equally loud in its 

 earlier and lower notes) of the red monkey, a J/yce^es-Araguato of 

 our Spanish j^eonaje-to be heard for miles around ; the pranks of 

 the timid agouti — Dasyprocta isthmica, D. aguti Linn, over his 

 meal of balata fruit — by the way, the choicest delicacy of the woods 

 for man and beast ; the soft musical sounds made by the rippling 

 water of an occasional creek ; the incessant prattle of tiny stream 

 frogs ; the raucous note of a tree-frog thrown in ; and last, but 

 not least, the chirping and warbling of the numerous gorgeous 

 members of the feathered tribe (u), the beauty and dazzle of 

 whose plumage are somewhat lost in the gloom so characteristic 

 of the tropical forest, amply repay the sportsman [qua naturalist) 

 for the toil, exposure, and deprivations of the day. 



After an uneventful hour's ramble over a succession of hills 

 and valleys, my attention was attracted by something on the 

 ground near me, and on looking closer I found we had happily 

 come upon a freshly-beaten Quank track. All other thoughts, 

 save of meeting face to face this little terror, vanished, and we 

 made ready for what we expected would be an exciting and 

 possibly a satisfactory chase. The dogs by this time, had found 

 the track, caught the scent, and were making their way towards 

 us with upraised hair, noses to the ground, and tails beating with 

 great excitement. After a few moments, as if an exchange of 

 signs had been made between them, they, one and all, dashed off, 

 and in a short while their yelping, though harsh and discordant, 



