442 



us a nest of young iguanas, that were only four 

 inches long. It was difficult to distinguish them 

 from a common lizard. There was nothing yet 

 formed but the dewlap below the throat. The 

 dorsal spines, the large erect scales, all those 

 appendages, that render the iguana so monstrous 

 when it attains the length of three or four feet, 

 were scarcely traced. 



The flesh of this animal of the saurlen family 

 appeared to us to have an agreeable taste in 

 every country, where the climate is very dry; 

 we even found it so at periods when we were not 

 in want of other food. It is extremely white^ 

 and next to the flesh of the armadillo, here 

 called cackica?no, one of the best eatables to be 

 found in the huts of the natives. 



It rained toward the evening. Before the rain 

 fell, swallows, exactly resembling our own, skim- 

 med over the surface of the water. We saw 

 also a flock of paroquets pursued by little gos- 

 hawks without crests. The piercing cries of 

 these paroquets contrasted singularly with the 

 whistling of the birds of prey. We passed the 

 night in the open; air, upon the beach, near the 

 island of Carizales. There were several Indian 

 huts in the neighbourheod, surrownded with 

 plantations. Our pilots assured us beforehand, 

 that we should mot hear the cries of the jaguar, 

 which, when not extremely pressed by tanger, 

 withdraws from places where he does tot ruk 



