1^2 VOYAGE IN SEARCH 



brother. Here we flopped : the gardener of 

 the expedition made this chief aprefent of agreat 

 number of fpecies of feeds brought from 

 Europe, principally efculent vegetables, which 

 he promifed to cultivate v.ith care. We 

 quitted him in order to penetrate into the woods, 

 where the foil was calcareous, and where we faw, 

 here and there, heaps of ;;/i7i:^?r/)or<-r, which proved 

 that the waters of the fea had remained there 

 for a long time. .We perceived upon the trees, 

 a number of large bats, of the fpecies named 

 'vefpertilio i-ampyriis^ which the inhabitants fay- 

 are very good eating. 



We were in the middle of the wood, when 

 an iflandcr, who had flipped behind one of us, 

 fnatched from his hands the iron nippers in- 

 tended for taking up infecls. The thief im- 

 mediately took to his heels, and he had fcarccly 

 gone four and twenty yards, when, finding him- 

 felf very clofely purfueJ, he got behind a tree, 

 round, which he dodged feveral times, in order 

 that he m'ght not be caug'ht : however, our 

 companion fcizcd him by the clothes, and 

 thought he was on the point of recovering 

 his nippers, in^.agining thiu he iidd a good hold 

 of the fellow; but what was his furprifc, when 

 the latter untied his girdle, and left his gar- 

 m,ents in our friend's haiKls, tliathcmighit efcape 

 quickly with the at tide he had ftolen ! 



We 



