176 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



to say what cause it proceeds from. If they did not change when 

 shut up in a house, but only on taking them into a garden, it might 

 be supposed the change of the colors was in consequence of the 

 smell of the plants; but when in a house, if it is watched, it will 

 [be seen to] change every ten minutes : some moments a plain 

 green, at others all its beautiful colors will come out, and when in 

 a passion it becomes of a deep black, and will swell itself up like a 

 balloon ; and, from being one of the most beautiful animals, it be- 

 comes one of the most ugly. It is true they are extremely fond of 

 the fresh air ; and on taking them to a window where there is noth- 

 ing to be seen, it is easy to observe the pleasure they certainly take 

 in it: they begin to gulp down the air, and their color becomes 

 brighter. I think it proceeds, in a great degree, from the temper 

 they are in : a little thing will put them in a bad humor. If, in 

 crossing a takle, for instance, you stop them, and attempt to turn 

 them another road, they will not stir, and are extremely obstinate : 

 on opening the mouth at them, it will set them in a passion : they 

 begin to arm themselves, by swelling and turning black, and will 

 sometimes hiss a little, but not much. The third 1 brought from 

 Jerusalem, was the most singular of all the chameleons I ever had : 

 its temper, if it can be so called, was extremely sagacious and cun- 

 ning. This one wa.s not of the order of the green kind, but a dis- 

 agreeable drab, and it never once varied in its color in two months. 

 On :ny arrival at Cairo, I used to let it crawl about the room, on 

 the furniture. Sometimes it would get down, if it could, and hide 

 itself away from me, but in a place where it could see me ; and 

 sometimes, on my leaving the room arid on entering it, would draw 

 itself so thin as to make itself nearly on a level with \\hatever it 

 might be on, so that I might not see it. It had often deceived me 

 so. One da)', having misst-d it for some time, 1 concluded it was 

 hid about the room ; after looking for it in vain, I thought it had 

 got out of the room and made its escape. In the course of the 

 evening, after the candle was lighted, I went to a basket that had 

 got a handle across it : I saw rny chameleon, but its color entirely 

 changed, and different to any I ever had seen before : the whole 

 body, head and tail, a brown, with black spots, and beautiful deep 

 orange colored spots round the black. I certainly was much grat- 

 ified. On being disturbed, its colors vanished, unlike the others; but 

 after this I used to observe it the first thing in the morning, when 

 it would have the same colors." Their chief food was flies: the fly 

 does not die immediately on being swallowed, for, on taking the 

 chameleon up in my hands, it was easy to feel the fly buzzing, 

 chiefly on account of the air they draw in their inside : they swell 

 much, and particularly when they want to fling themselves off a 

 great height, by filling themselves up like a balloon. On falling, 

 they get no hurt, except on the mouth, which they bruise a little, 

 as that comes first to the ground. Sometimes they will not drink 

 for three or four days, and when they begin, they are about half an 

 hour drinking. I have held a glass in one hand, while the chame- 



