THE GUAXA 333 



merely stares with its large eyes, and inflates its pouch, while 

 the noose is passing round its neck to drag it forth from its hole. 



The Bahama islands abound with Gruanas, which form a great 

 part of the subsistence of the inhabitants. They are caught by 

 dogs, trained for the purpose, in the hollow rocks and trees where 

 they nestle, and either carried alive for sale to Carolina, or kept 

 for home consumption. They feed wholly on vegetables and 

 fruit, particularly on a kind of fungus, growing at the roots of 

 trees, and on the fruits of the different kinds of ananas, whence 

 their flesh most likely acquires its delicate flavour. 



The famous South American monitory lizard or Teju {Tejus 

 ^monitor) is one of the largest and most beautiful of the whole 

 race, as he measures no less than five feet from the snout to the 

 tip of the tail, which is nearly twice as long as the body, while 

 his black colour, variegated with bright yellow bands and spots, 

 produces an agreeable and pleasing effect. The head is small, 

 the snout gradually tapers, the limbs are slender, and the tail, 

 wbich is laterally compressed, gradually decreases towards the 

 extremity. The Teju lives in cavities and hollows, frequently 

 under the roots of trees. When pursued, he runs rapidly straight 

 forward to his burrow, but when his retreat is intercepted, he 

 defends himself valiantly, and proves a by no means contemptible 

 antagonist, as he is able to bite through a thick boot, and a 

 stroke with his strong and muscular tail will completely disable 

 a dog. Schomburgk frequently found the leathery eggs of the 

 Teju in the large deserted nests of the Termites, not only in 

 the forests, but in the plantations. Though the Monitor gene- 

 rally lives on land, he is an excellent swimmer, and catches many 

 a fish in its native element. His chief food, however, consists in 

 various fruits, rats, mice, birds, and he also devours a large 

 number of the eggs and young of the alligator. The attach- 

 ment to man which is universally 

 attributed to him in Brazil, and the 

 warning which, like his relation the 

 Monitor of the Nile, he is said to give 

 to him of the approach of the cayman 

 or the crocodile, by emitting a pecu- Monitor. 



liar and shrill sound, are idle fables 



which hardly required the contradiction of Prince Maximilian 

 of Neu Wied, who in all his travels never once heard the Teju's 



