April 9, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
569 
UNLOADING THE FANTASTIC, GAUDY TROPICAL FISH ON A JAMAICAN BEACH. 
our New York State woods, and here in the 
sand and heat, among the thorns and cactus, 
were these strange alligator tracks. Like the 
otter the alligator drags himself, making a sharp 
furrow in the sand. What a baleful, indescrib¬ 
able odor the cactus diffuses! 
Over a little ridge of sand through the thorny 
tropic plants I came on a second pond, a shal¬ 
low, shrunken, muddy sheet of water set in wide 
flats of cracking mud in which were the dried 
tracks of alligators and wild cattle. No doubt 
it was under some such conditions that many 
of the tracks of prehistoric animals were made. 
Out on the mud, nearer the water, were thou¬ 
sands of sandpipers. At my approach they rose 
and went through regimental drill 'on the wing, 
moving exactly as one bird, now showing dark 
against the sky as they flew away from me, now 
white against the mangrove as they turned, ex¬ 
posing their white bellies, every bird turning at 
the same instant. This power of unity of action 
or community of mind among birds, fish and 
animals has never been fully explained. Maeter- 
link, in his “Life of the Bee,” calls .it “The 
Spirit of the Hive.” It must be some subtle 
form of telepathy. 
With vapor stove and frying-pan we got some 
supper, finishing up with the universal Jamaica 
food—bananas. In Jamaica, cows and dogs eat 
bananas. 
Night came quickly as it does always in the 
tropics. The negroes got their boats and seines 
ready for the night’s fishing. Never can I for¬ 
get that night; it made me think of the story 
of the returned sailor who, in reply to his 
mother’s inquiry as to what strange sights he 
had seen, said he had seen rivers of beer and 
mountains of sugar. His imagination then run¬ 
ning short of material, he said he had seen flying 
SNIPE ON A JAMAICAN MUD FLAT. 
