300 



THE ADVENTURES OF 



ancients. Its skin shone with a silvery-gray metallic glitter, 

 more particularly on the dorsal ridge. L'Encuerado joined 

 us when it was dying, when, rubbing his hands, he cried : 



" It is a guachi-cheve; what a splendid supper we shall 

 have!" 



" You have seen them before, then ?" 



"It is an animal which belongs to my country, Chanito; 

 it abounds in the plains which slope down to the Pacific 

 Ocean. They are beasts which can live without eating; 

 they are sometimes kept for two months with their feet 

 tied and their mouth sewn up." 



" The mouth sewn up ?" 



"Yes, Chanito, so as to prevent them getting lean. 

 When I was your age, during the time of Lent, I used to 

 go iguana hunting with my brothers. We sought them in 

 the shallow marshes which are inundated by water during 

 flood-time. There, in hollow trunks of trees, or in holes 

 made in the mud, we found the black iguanas, and pulled 

 them out by their tails." 



" Then they don't bite ?" 



" Oh yes, they do, and scratch also ; so we took care to 

 catch hold of them by the neck, and tie both their feet and 

 their jaws. Sometimes we used to pursue them up the 

 trees ; but then, for they don't mind falling twenty or 

 thirty feet, they frequently escaped." 



Sumichrast completed this information by telling the 

 young naturalist that the iguana, which is allied to the liz- 

 ards, is generally a yard in length ; and that the female lays 

 thirty to forty eggs, which are much esteemed by the na- 

 tive epicures ; also that the green species — Iguana rhinolo- 

 pha — has a flat, thin tail, and swims much better than the 

 black variety, the tail of which, being covered with spines, 

 is not well adapted for progression through water. Thus, 

 meeting with a green iguana almost always indicates the 



