256 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
you must be very active to capture one. The little 
negro and Indian boys are very expert at it and catch 
them by means of slip-nooses of grass, attached to the 
ends of sticks, which they pass over the heads of the 
lizards as they lie asleep in the sun. They are not 
poisonous, though repulsive to many, and though 
some of them will bite severely, they do not inflict 
dangerous wounds. ; . 
There are many hideous forms, especially among 
those of South America, like the Basilisk and the 
Flying Dragon; but in the West Indies there is none 
of more hideous appearance than the iguana. Never 
was more harmless creature invested with more fright- 
ful aspect. Clothed with scales, like the alligator, 
but finer and more flexible, with a long, slender and 
powerful tail, a gular pouch, hanging like a dew-lap 
beneath its throat, and having along its back from 
head to tail a crest of spines, it would not be attractive 
were it not for its beautiful colors of varying green and 
yellow, and its brightly glancing eye. In the islands 
where it exists it is eagerly sought as food, and its 
flesh is palatable and delicate, as I can testify from 
experience, being white, tender, and nutritious. 
The good father Pére Labat (worthy missionary 
and don vivant withal) compares fricasseed guana to 
chicken for the whiteness of its flesh and delicacy of 
its flavor. He gives a delightful account of catching 
one, two hundred years ago : 
“We were attended by a negro who carried a long 
rod, at one end of which was a piece of whip-cord 
with a running knot. After beating about the bushes 
for some time, the negro discovered our game basking 
in the sun on the dry limb of a tree. Hereupon he 
