XXll ITINERARY, 



nervous collapse and injury, if not in death ; tliougli most likely shock 

 on a weak heart, and diseased organs, were main contiibutory causes 

 in the generality of fatal cases. 



Very common objects also in similar situations are the gecko lizards, 

 commonly known as "wood-slaves." It was seldom that we found 

 them with their proper tapering tails. In the larger specimens, these 

 had usually been lost by some sort of injury, and had been replaced by 

 the more or less swollen turnip-shaped enlargement that always follows 

 the damage, and which gives them so strange, if not repulsive, an 

 appearance. Among the labourers and people genei'ally on the coast, 

 these lizards are much dreaded, as they are said to poison the flesh and 

 cause leprosy if they happen to alight on, and become attached to, the 

 body, as may occasionally take place when they have been knocked ovit 

 of the thatch or otherwise driven from their hiding-places. The 

 clinging on of the little harmless reptiles (harmless in this sense only, 

 for they can bite sharply like most lizards, if they are of any great 

 size) is of course due to the flattened sucker-like skin of the fingers 

 and toes — hence their zoological name, PlatycUictylus ; and the little 

 creatures cling on thus tightly to what they clasp, being unable to do 

 otherwise. Nothing can shake the belief of the ignorant people that 

 it is due to their venomous nature, and in any case it will be 

 asseverated that they give leprosy, which probably is associated with 

 the peculiar warty aspect of the skin, particularly on the enlarged 

 lump of a tail. 



Of the various forms of poisonous insects and other organisms to be 

 met with occasionally over the diflerent parts of the country, there 

 can be no doubt that specimens as large of their kind as were the 

 Mygale and the scorjiion obtained on the Kurubung Mountains would 

 be capable of inflicting injury of a very serious, if not fatal, kind. 

 Fortunately, few of them seek to cause hurt except to their natuial 

 enemies or prey ; man may suffer, however, when he has accidentally 

 or carelessly interfered with them, or has intruded too closely on their 

 chosen quarters. 



In several of the creeks, both here and across the Upper Mazaruni 

 a}; similar elevations and at Roraima, I found many specimens of a 

 new species of piawn, (Palcemon) which was remarkable through the 

 long and thick claws, especially on the right side, in relation to the 

 size of the body. In the largest males these claws are longer than the 

 body. (Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, viii. pt. 2, p. 57, pi. vi.) In the 

 water they seemed almost grotesque in appearance, but it was 

 surprising to watch the perfect ease with which they managed their 

 unwieldy appendsiges. The butterfly-net had to be used to secure 

 them without injury. 



The journey across the Kurubung Mountains was perhaps the most 

 tedious and unpleasant part of the expedition, on account of the 

 repeated delays, the frequent rains, and the very bad track — perhaps 

 largely so because we had not yet got into our stride, so to speak ; and 

 we were very glad when the last day came, though when we saw the 

 cliff over which the trail disappeared we were aghast; and had it been 

 other than a staid Indian guide one would have been under the 

 impression that some sort of practical joke was being played. 



