WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMEEICA. 201 



long before this, that cruelty, old age, and want, have worn 

 her out, and that both poor Mary and her cat have ceased 

 to be. 



"Would you wish to pursue the different species of game, 

 well stored and boundless is your range^ in Demerara. Here 

 no one dogs you, and afterwards clandestinely inquires if 

 you have a hundred a year in land to entitle you to enjoy 

 such patrician sport. Here no saucy intruder asks if 

 you have taken out a licence, by virtue of which you are 

 allowed to kill the birds which have bred upon your own 

 property. Here 



"You are as free as when God first made man, 

 Ere the vile laws of servitude tegan. 

 And wild in woods the noble savage ran. " 



Before the morning's dawn you hear a noise in the forest, 

 which sounds like " duraquaura " often repeated. This is the 

 Partridge, a little smaller, and differing somewhat in colour 

 from the English partridge ; it lives entirely in the forest, 

 and probably the young brood very soon leave their parents, 

 as you never flush more than two birds in the same place, 

 and in general only one. 



About the same hour, and sometimes even at midnight, 

 you hear two species of Maam, or Tinamou, send forth 

 their long and plaintive whistle from the depth of the 

 forest. The flesh of both is delicious. The largest is 

 •plumper, "and almost equals in size the Mack cock of 

 Northumberland. The quail is said to be here, though 

 rare. 



The Hannaquoi, which some have compared to the 

 pheasant, though with little reason, is very common. 



Here are also two species of the Powise, or Hocco, and 

 two of the small wild turkeys called Maroudi ; they feed on 

 the ripe fruits of the forest, and are found in all directions 



