WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 233 



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 constantly attended 

 me ; his name was Daddy Quashi ; he had a brave stomach 

 for heterogeneous food ; it could digest, and relish too, cay- 

 man, monkies, hawks, and grubs. The Daddy made three 

 or four meals on this cayman while it was not absolutely 

 putrid, and salted the rest. I could never get him to face 

 a snake ; the horror he betrayed on seeing one was beyond 

 description ; I asked him why he was so terribly alarmed ; 

 he said it was by seeing so many dogs, from time to time, 

 killed by them. 



Here I had a fine opportunity of examining several 

 species of the caprimulgus. I am fully persuaded that these 

 innocent little birds never suck the herds ; for when they 

 approach them, and jump up at their udders, it is to catch 

 the flies and insects there. When the moon shone bright, 

 I would frequently go and stand within three yards of a 

 cow, and distinctly see the caprimulgus catch the flies on 

 its udder. On looking for them in the forest, during the 

 day, I either found them on the ground, or else invariably 

 sitting longitudinally on the branch of a tree, not crosswise 

 like all other birds. 



The Wasps' or Maribuntas, are great plagues in these 

 forests, and require the naturalist to be cautious as he 

 wanders up and down. Some make their nests pendent 

 from the branches ; others have them fixed to the under- 

 side of a leaf. Now in passing on, if you happen to dis- 

 turb one of these, they sally forth and punish you severely. 

 The largest kind is blue ; it brings blood where its sting 

 enters, and causes pain and inflammation enough to create 

 a fever. The Indians make a fire under the nest, and 

 after killing or driving away the old ones, they roast the 



