372 
GUATEMALA. 
deficient in courage. There are a hundred in Florida to 
every one in Guatemala, and I seldom got a shot at any; 
I was able to kill only one, and he was not over seven 
feet in length. A much larger one came ashore to lay 
her eggs near a house on the Chocon plantation, and was 
killed. The musky odor of the alligator is very strong 
during the breeding season, and the eggs (which are 
eaten by the Caribs) have a very strong flavor. They 
are small, — less than three inches long, — alike at each 
end, and rough ; when dry, the shells contract, and finally 
split in spiral strips. Young alligators, not more than a 
foot long, are eaten, it is said, by the Indios. 
The iguana I have already described. So abundant are 
these delicious reptiles that they are sometimes brought 
to Belize by the dory-load ; and one may see several hun¬ 
dred Caribs each carrying home one or two iguanas, still 
alive, but with toes tied together, over the back. Of 
other lizards there are many kinds, from the harmless 
little fellows which make a squeaking in the thatch at 
night, to the long-tailed, crested lizards which rob the 
hens’ nests and even make way with the small chickens. 
Fresh-water turtles are abundant, and one, the hikatee , 
is excellent eating ; so are its eggs, of the size of a pul¬ 
let’s, of which some two or three dozen are found in a 
nest six or eight inches below the surface of the sand. 
The sexes are easily distinguished by the shape of the tail, 
the female having a shorter and thicker one. The sea-tur¬ 
tle (including the hawksbill, so valuable for the tortoise¬ 
shell) are very abundant, and are caught in seines by the 
use of floating decoys. Some of these turtle weigh one 
hundred and fifty pounds, and their steaks are white and 
tender as the best veal. I have never been on the shore 
