OVERLAND TO LA ESPERANZA 37 



Spanish, traversed the length of the island afoot 

 leading a little donkey upon which he packed his 

 precious collections. For weeks at a time he slept 

 in caves, ate wild honey, and lived like the ab- 

 origines. Once, when searching for rare water plants 

 in the great swamp jungle of south Cuba (Cienega 

 de Zapata), he was observed, by some startled 

 natives, swimming in the crocodile-infested black 

 waters of the swamp, his long beard floating back 

 while he blew the water from his mouth like a 

 grampus. The natives thought him to be some 

 unheard-of animal and beat a hasty retreat while 

 there was yet time. Wright was a wonderful 

 collector and some of the finest Cuban species 

 discovered by him have never since been found, 

 notwithstanding the fact that he carefully recorded 

 localities in a journal and in correspondence still 

 preserved. 



Felipe Poey was the third of the Cuban natur- 

 alists to make known the land shells of the island. 

 He was not himself a collector like Gundlach and 

 Wright, but a student and teacher. He is regarded 

 as the father of Cuban natural history and his 

 students from all over the island supplied him with 

 material for his two- volume work entitled Memoria 



