EXPLANATORY INDEX. 467 



Salempenta {Teius Teguexin). — This fine lizard is some- 

 times culled the Safeguard, because it is supposed to give 

 notice of the approach of the alligator, just as the African 

 monitors are believed to warn travellers against the crocodile. 



It is a large animal, stoutly made, and reaching five feet 

 or more in length. It is handsomely coloured with black. 



SALEMPENTA. 



yellow, green, and white, arranged so variously that hardly 

 any two specimens are alike. For this reason it is called the 

 Variegated Lizard. 



Like the iguana, the Salempenta affords very delicate food, 

 which is thought to resemble the flesh of a very delicate 

 young chicken. New comers are at first averse to eating a 

 lizard of any description^ but they very soon find out their 

 mistake, and would even prefer an iguana or Salempenta 

 cutlet to a chicken. 



Samoueah. — The palm which is known by this name is 

 called Ireartia eetigera, and like the ourah, is of very small 

 diameter in proportion to its length. 



Sand Fly (Simulia Pertinax), called by the natives Mapire, 

 and mostly haunting the sea shore. What the mosquito is by 

 night, the Sand Fly is by day, and is a still greater pest. It flies 

 very rapidly, settles, bites, and fills itself with blood almost 

 instantaneously, having nothing of the deliberate action of 

 the mosquito. The bites afterwards become exceedingly 

 painful. 



II H 2 



