MALTA AND SICILY. 
91 
a good deal of explanation, both by words 
and signs, and by now and then making use 
of his tools myself, I was at length in pos¬ 
session of an instrument which has proved 
to be quite powerful enough for the purpose. 
It is about a yard in length, and can be taken 
apart in three pieces for the convenience of 
carriage. 
The first warm, sunshiny day we crossed 
the water again to make trial of the blowpipe, 
which answered admirably. With a pellet 
of soft pipe-clay, I found no difficulty in 
killing or stunning these nimble-footed 
lizards, so that they could not escape, and 
we brought them home very conveniently in 
a large wide-mouthed bottle of spirits of 
wine. These beautiful animals vary so much 
in their colours, that we at first supposed 
they were of different species. Some are a 
brilliant green, spotted with black; others 
