220 TiMEHRI. 



cially have boughs full of leaves ready prepared, or 

 broad linen cloths, wherewith they smite the cucuius 

 flying about on high, and strike him to the ground, 

 where he lyeth as it were astonished, and suffereth 

 himself to be taken, or as they say, followeth the fall of 

 the fly, they take the prey, by casting the same bushy 

 bough, or linen cloth upon him, howsoever it be, the 

 hunter having the hunting cucuius, returneth home, and 

 shutting the door of the house, letteth the prey go. 

 The cucuius loosed, swiftly flyeth about the whole 

 house seeking gnats, under their hanging beds, and 

 about the faces of them that sleep, which the gnats use 

 to assail, they seem to execute the office of watchmen, 

 that such as are shut in, may quietly rest." 



Unfortunately the Spaniards seem to have been 

 mistaken in regard to the supposed voracity of the 

 cucuy in regard to mosquitoes, but it is singular that to 

 this day the negroes in Jamaica believe that the 

 " peenies" as the insefts are commonly called there, 

 may be taken in a way very similar to that described by 

 the Abbot of Sevilla Nueva. If you hold a peenie be- 

 tween your fingers on a dark night and stand in the 

 open air, shaking it about and calling aloud " Peenie, 

 peenie weary, come to be fed" the other peenies, say 

 the negro peasants, will come hastily flying up to 

 their fellow and can easily be taken. 



To return to Martyr : " Another pleasant and profi- 

 table commodity proceedeth from the cucuy. As many 

 eyes as every cucuius openeth, the host enjoyeth the 

 light of so many candles ; so that the inhabitants spin, 

 sew, weave and dance by the light of the flying cucuius. 

 The inabitants think that the cucuius, is delighted with 



