CHAPTER II 



In some parts of these forests I saw Vanilla 

 growing luxuriantly. It creeps up the trees to 

 the height of thirty or forty feet. I found it 

 difficult to get a ripe pod, as the monkeys are very 

 fond of it, and generally took care to get there 

 before me. The pod hangs from the tree in the 

 shape of a little scabbard. Vayna is the Spanish 

 for a scabbard, and Vanilla for a little scabbard. 

 Hence the name. 



In Mibiri creek there was a cayman of the small 

 species, measuring about five feet in length; I 

 saw it in the same place for months, but could 

 never get a shot at it; for the moment I thought 

 I was sure of it, it dived under the water before 

 I could pull the trigger. At last I got an Indian 

 with his bow and arrow ; he stood up in the canoe 

 with his bow ready bent, and as we drifted past 

 the place, he sent his arrow into the cayman's eye 

 and killed it dead. The skin of this little species 

 is much harder and stronger than that of the 

 large kind : it is good food, and tastes like veal. 



My friend, Mr. Edmonstone, had very kindly 

 let me have one of his old negroes, and he con- 

 stantly attended me ; his name was Daddy Quashi ; 

 he had a brave stomach for heterogeneous food; 

 it could digest, and relish too, cayman, monkeys, 

 hawks, and grubs. The Daddy made three or four 

 meals on this cayman while it was not absolutely 



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