380 EXPLANATORY INDEX. 



Gladly would we have gone on shore, were it but to have 

 stood a while under those Palmistes." 



It is the custom that when a spot has been cleared for the 

 purpose of building a house, a few Cabbage-palms are left 

 standing round it. 



Oamoudi [Hunectes marinus).- — One of the giants among 

 snakes, more generally known by the title of Anaconda. It 

 is sometimes called Huillia. The snake is generally found 

 near water, and is apt to be dangerous when large. Mr. 0. B. 

 Brown remarks that whenever a Camoudi is killed, two king 

 vultures (g'.f.) will come and take possession of it. Waterton 

 noticed the same fact. When gorged, it is in the habit of 

 lying coiled up near the water until it has digested its meal. 



In this state it is so motionless that it might easily be 

 mistaken for a log of wood. Indeed, Waterton mentions in 

 one of his essays, that a negro committed the error of sitting 

 down on one of these snakes, taking it for a fallen tree, and 

 was only undeceived by the snake moving away. 



Kingsley mentions a case where four young ladies were 

 bathing in a lagoon, and one was seized by a Camoudi from 

 behind. Thinking that one of her sisters had caught her 

 dress in play, she felt no alarm until she saw her three sisters 

 on the bank, and found that she had been seized by a snake. 

 The three girls courageously dashed into the water and tried 

 to drag her away from the snake. Fortunately the reptile 

 had only caught her bathing-dress, which, being made of thin 

 cotton, gave way, and she escaped safely to land. 



Cahpanero {Ghasmorhynchusniveus). — No one has described 

 the singular cry of this bird as Waterton has done. 



It is one of the great tribe of the Chatterers. The horn-like 

 projection from the base of its beak has in all probability 

 much to do with the resonance of the cry. The accompanying 

 illustrations show the two positions of the ' horn.' The head 

 of the bird gives the horn as it appears while the bird is 

 tolling its wonderful bell, and the full figure depicts the 

 flaccid state of the horn while the bird is at rest. 



