40 RAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Oh. IH. 



being rocky and precipitous ; and as it was this part which the 

 monkeys were said chiefly to inhabit, I did my best to get a 

 sight of them. Lying flat down, therefore, I looked over 

 the edge, but neither the dislodgment of stones nor the 

 clapping of my hands succeeded in elicitiag any traces of 

 the animals, which, in fact, appear to be almost as mythical 

 and rarely seen as the true apes on the rock of Gibraltar. 

 While thus engaged, a loud rush near my head made me 

 retreat from my insecure position, and on looking up I 

 found that a number of large kites (Milvus govinda), which 

 were always hovpring about the coast in search of garbage, 

 had assembled overhead, and one of them had made a swoop 

 near me, probably to recoimoitre the unusual object. 



The lower part of Apes' Hill consists of rugged coral 

 blocks, embedded among which I obtained a few recent 

 shells. The blocks are thrown up in a very loose manner, 

 but for the most part covered with bushes and herbage, even 

 up to the summit. Abundance of a species of Euphorbia, 

 and stunted bushes of guava (Psidium) grew upon the 

 sloping sides, while near the summit appeared the charac- 

 teristic cycads, which were now in flower, and might easily 

 have been, mistaken at a distance for small palms. Among 

 them flew in considerable numbers a large, red-winged 

 orthopterous insect (Gryllus), and at the smnmit was a small 

 green species, with the head singularly elongated and pro- 

 duced' in front, belonging to the genus Tryxalis, which 

 seems largely represented in the island. 



Upon the shores of the lagoon was an excellent spot for 

 watching the habits of the land crabs (Gelasimi), which 

 marched about in a serio-comic manner amid their holes ; 

 each one as it cautiously moved along held up in front of its 

 eyes its single large and delicately-tinted claw, with an 



