442 
SALT-PONDS. 
that while the prevailing colour of those of the Eu- 
ropean warren is what Buffon calls the grey, and 
which he defines to be a mixture of tawny, black, 
and ash-colour, these of our savannas are silver- 
sable, — the variety which he describes under the 
name of ‘ Le Riche,’ — the slate-coloured rabbit, 
deeply tinted, with sprinklings of white on the neck, 
on the shoulders, and on the back, softening off to 
blue-white under the breast and belly. 
‘‘ Our savannas in the rainy seasons are generally 
an inch or two under water, but the pinguins, being 
banked, form, through the most drenching weather, 
a secure asylum from inundation. Here they burrow 
and breed, and find more than usual supplies of food 
in the fields of Guinea-corn, the Holcus sorghum, 
which is a staple article of cultivation in salt-ponds, 
and in the customary roots and vegetables, par- 
ticularly the Convolvulus batatas, or Sweet potato, 
which are grown in the negro grounds. 
“ ‘ Our Rabbit,’ says the Pere du Tertre in his 
General History of the Antilles, ‘ was early intro- 
duced into the American Islands, and succeeded 
well.’ ‘ Y ont tres-bien reussi,’ are words that im- 
ply they were established successfully, but whether 
in a state of domestication, or as inhabitants of the 
wilderness, I am not able to determine. I have not 
heard that they are common in any of the Antilles, 
great or small, but as Leo Africanus and Bosman 
represent them to be natural to Africa and Asia, and 
delighting in excessive heat, one wonders why so little 
progress has been made in stocking our fields with an 
animal supplying a delicate dish wherever it has 
