SOUTH AMERICA. 
169 
jaguar and boa constrictor. The vampire does not 
make use of his feet to walk, but to stretch a mem¬ 
brane, which enables him to go up into an element, 
where no other quadruped is seen. The armadillo 
has only here and there a straggling hair, and has 
neither fur, nor wool, nor bristles, but in lieu of 
them has received a movable shell, on which are 
scales very much like those of fishes. The tortoise 
is oviparous, entirely without any appearance of 
hair, and is obliged to accommodate itself to a shell 
which is quite hard and inflexible, and in no point 
of view whatever obedient to the will or pleasure of 
the bearer. The egg of the tortoise has a very hard 
shell, while that of the turtle is quite soft. 
In some parts of these forests I saw the Vanilla 
growing luxuriantly. It creeps up the trees to the 
height of thirty or forty feet. I found it difficult to 
get a ripe pod, as the monkies are very fond of it, 
and generally took care to get there before me. The 
pod hangs from the tree in the shape of a little scab¬ 
bard. Vayna is the Spanish for a scabbard, and 
Vanilla for a little scabbard. Hence the name. 
In Mibiri creek there was a Cayman of the small 
species, measuring about five feet in length ; I saw 
it in the same place for months, but could never get 
a shot at it; for the moment I thought I was sure 
of it, it dived under the water before I could pull 
the trigger. At last I got an Indian with his bow 
and arrow; he stood up in the canoe with his bow 
ready bent, and as we drifted past the place, he sent 
his arrow into the cayman’s eye, and killed it dead. 
THIRD 
JOURNEY. 
The Va¬ 
nilla. 
Shoots a 
Cayman 
in Mibiri 
creek. 
