134 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
Meyong’s skin was proclaimed by that worthy ina 
howl of dismay. 
Meyong was a good boy and generally very trac- 
table, but he would never listen to my advice and wear 
his shirt inside his pantaloons. He said it was the 
JSashion to wear it outside, and used an expression 
equivalent to that in so common use among the ladies : 
“To be out of fashion is to be out of the world.” 
I argued with him and entreated him, but in this he 
would have his own way; and I really believe that if 
every man in the Carib nation were bitten by a bee 
every day in his mortal life, he would still persist in dis- 
playing a flag of distress above his nether coverings. 
And thus he went on, with alternate howls and 
exclamations of sweeter character, such as szzel douce, 
(honey sweet,) until the great palm troughs were full 
enough and IJ concluded it would be well to desist. 
Early in the proceedings he had whistled shrilly 
several times, and when I asked the reason, he said it 
was to call the mal jinz. “Mal fini” was the name 
given to the hawk, from its cry; but this applied to a 
small bird of the fly-catcher family, which would come 
and eat the bees and thus diminish the number of 
Meyong’s assailants. ‘The bird came, a small, shy, 
gray bird, which approached cautiously, evidently 
astonished to see a human being up in a tree sur- 
rounded with smoke, and another at the foot of the 
tree. But he did not stop to speculate, but worked 
assiduously, and soon he was joined by others; 
though their united efforts failed to lessen perceptibly 
the angry swarm. 
Supplied with all the honey I cared for, I sat con- 
tentedly upon a fallen log, with my feet thrust down 
