170 
wanderings in 
THIRD 
JOURNEY. 
Negro 
servant. 
Species of 
the Capri- 
mulgus. 
The 
Wasps, or 
Mari- 
buntas. 
The skin of this little species is much harder and 
stronger than that of the large kind; it is good food, 
and tastes like veal. 
My friend, Mr. Edmonstone, had very kindly let 
me have one of his old negroes, and he constantly 
attended me; his name was Daddy Quashi; he had 
a brave stomach for heterogeneous food; it could 
digest, and relish too, caymen, monkies, hawks, and 
grubs. The Daddy made three or four meals on this 
cayman while it was not absolutely putrid, and salted 
the rest. I could never get him to face a snake; 
the horror he betrayed on seeing one was beyond 
description: I asked him why he was so terribly 
alarmed; he said it was by seeing so many dogs, 
from time to time, killed by them. 
Here I had a fine opportunity of examining several 
species of the Caprimulgus. I am fully persuaded 
that these innocent little birds never suck the herds; 
for when they approach them, and jump up at their 
udders, it is to catch the flies and insects there. 
When the moon shone bright, I would frequently 
go and stand within three yards of a cow, and dis¬ 
tinctly see the caprimulgus catch the flies on its 
udder. On looking for them in the forest, during 
the day, I either found them on the ground, or else 
invariably sitting longitudinally on the branch of a 
tree, not crosswise , like all other birds. 
The Wasps, or Maribuntas, are great plagues in 
these forests, and require the naturalist to be cautious 
as he wanders up and down. Some make their 
nests pendent from the branches; others have them 
