ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 73 
stop for, the many curious things on either bank. Close 
on the shore were red abutilons, and over them crept 
the long-tubed white convolvulus (Ipomcea bona-nox) and 
the brilliant yellow allamanda; high up on the wild fig- 
trees were black, long-tailed monkeys, common and tame, 
their wonderfully human faces peering down at the in¬ 
truders, the mothers clasping their hairy little babies to 
their breasts with one arm, and with the other scratching 
their heads in a puzzled manner. One of our Caribs shot 
a little fellow before I could prevent him, and the creature 
clung, even in death, by his tail. As I had shot an iguana 
through the head with my revolver in the morning, I was 
called upon to cut with my bullet the provoking tail, that 
the Caribs might have a caribal feast. Regard for my 
reputation as a marksman, and the memory of a taste of 
roast monkey in India, forbade the attempt, and the poor 
monkey, like the Tyburn thief, “ is hanging there still.” 
There was foam on the water, but we heard no water-fall, 
— and indeed the flat nature of the country made falls, 
cascades, or even rapids, impossible. 
We passed another night when the torrents of rain had 
no effect on the myriads of mosquitoes and black-flies. 
Still all the brooks ran inland, although, as we afterwards 
learned, in the dry season these banks are so high above 
the water that they are hard to climb. All day long we 
saw monkeys along the banks, though high above us, and 
the following night we heard the howlers; but in com¬ 
pensation for that evil had no mosquitoes. By Saturday 
(Nov. 3, 1883) we hoped to be well on our road from 
Pansos to Coban, but, except the cayuco, we saw no signs 
of men or the work of men’s hands; on that morning, 
however, we came to a little jinca on the river bank, where 
