ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
93 
generally keep them a week or two, feeding them on 
corn-meal, so as to purify and fatten them. Land-crabs 
are treated in the same way. 
' The common iguana, and the mata (Salvrxtor), are 
considered by many very good eating; but to Euro- 
peans, the idea of eating such crawling lizards is revolting. 
Venomous serpents are common in Trinidad, yet not 
often do persons get bitten. And those who frequent 
the woods, and are most liable to be bitten, are gene- 
rally acquainted with effectual remedies. Still deaths 
do now and then occur from the bite of a serpent. 
Two Africans once teazed and played with a coral- 
snake, believing it to be quite harmless, even being so 
foolish as to put its head in their mouths. They were 
bitten, and after a few hours they began to grow giddy, 
reeling to the ground, and dying in a few hours. This 
coral was about four feet and a half long. Dogs in the 
Avoods, and sometimes horses and mules in the pastures, 
fall Auctims to the bite of the cascabel and mapepire. 
The clibi, or cribo, haunts inhabited places, and is 
sometimes seen in houses, Avhere, however, it is of some 
use in destroying rats. This coluber is very determined, 
particularly the black kind, and it has been knoAvn to 
give battle, and eA'^en chase to a man. 
The macajuel, Avhenever irritated, inflates its body, 
and. then loudly emits a foetid and sickening breath, 
which produces a sensation of faintness. 
Ameivas are useful in gardens, Avhere they destroy 
numbers of mole-crickets. During the Avhole rainy 
season Ave have abundance of frogs, Avhich keep up an 
incessant croaking Avherever there is a pool of Avater. 
The concert they make is very strange and noisy to the 
ear, but at night, if you take a light, they are silent at 
once. The bullfrog has a deep peculiar sound of his 
own, while the others vary their note from the highest 
falsetto to the deepest bass. 
Fishes. — Out of about fifteen different species of fresh- 
water fish, only a few are eaten, the others being neg- 
