A MONKEY HUNT IN THE MOUNTAINS. 267 



run wild. The agouti (Dasyprocta agouti), a rodent, 

 native to the West Indies and South America, is the 

 most abundant of any quadruped in the Antilles, being 

 found in most of them at the present day. An opos- 

 sum, said to have been introduced from South Amer- 

 ica, called by the negroes the manicou, or manitou, 

 is very numerous, and is a terror to the negroes' 

 chickens. In Guadeloupe, alone of the chain, may 

 yet be found the raccoon, though the present species 

 is not considered an indigenous one. The armadillo, 

 once common in every island, is now found only in 

 Grenada and Tobago ; it is the nine-banded arma- 

 dillo, called by the natives the "tatou," or " tatouay," 

 and is nocturnal in its habits. 



To visit his "tatou traps," my new friend the black 

 policeman, and myself, sallied forth early in the morn- 

 ing. In a few minutes we were out of sight of the 

 house and in as deep a forest as any in these wilds. 

 All forests of the " high-woods " resemble each other 

 so much that my description of those of Dominica and 

 Guadeloupe will answer for this. They are composed 

 of giant trees, woven together by masses of vines, 

 through which a path must sometimes be hewn with 

 the cutlass ; trees and vines are hidden beneath thou- 

 sands upon thousands of air-plants and parasites, 

 which are the most conspicuous vegetation of these 



forests. 



" Like restless serpents clothed 

 In rainbow and in fire, the parasites, 

 Starred with ten thousand blossoms, flow around 

 The gray trunks." 



We passed through groves of the mountain palm, 

 and here put to flight a mountain dove or two, and 



