THE VULTURE. 19 



is destined by an all-wise Providence to be its sup- 

 port and nourishment. 



I will here bring forward the common vulture of 

 the West Indies, the Vultur Aura of Guiana, the 

 king of the vultures of Terra firma, and the vulture 

 which is found in European Andalusia. I am inti- 

 mately acquainted with all these useful scavengers ; 

 and I have never known any of them to kill the food 

 upon which they feed ; or when they are in a com- 

 plete state of nature, free from the restraint or al- 

 lurements of man, ever feed upon that which was 

 not putrid. Having slain the large serpent men- 

 tioned in the Wanderings, though I wished to pre- 

 serve the skeleton, still I preferred to forego the 

 opportunity, rather than not get the king of the 

 vultures. I called Daddy Quasshi, and another 

 negro, 'and we carried the body into the forest. The 

 foliage of the trees where we laid it was impervious 

 to the sun's rays, and had any vultures passed over 

 that part of the forest, I think I may say with safety 

 that they could not have seen the remains of the 

 serpent through the shade. For the first two days 

 not a vulture made its appearance at the spot, though 

 I could see here and there, as usual, a Vultur Aura 

 gliding, on apparently immovable pinion, at a mode- 

 rate height, over the tops of the forest trees. But 

 during the afternoon of the third day, when the 

 carcass of the serpent had got into a state of putre- 

 faction, more than twenty of the common vultures 

 came and perched upon the neighbouring trees, and 

 the next morning, a little after six o'clock, I saw a 

 magnificent king of the vultures. There was a stu- 

 c 2 



