the combustion. We observed fresh water slowly distilling into the pit from the earth at its sides, and dropping to the bottom, and as this increased in quantity it raised the flame higher and higher in the pit, supporting it upon its surface, and conveying the appearance of water itself being on fire, although it was very clear and pure, and not spread with any oily or bituminous matter. When the water had risen to a certain height the flame became feeble, then gradually declined, and presently was extinct. The water was now seen to boil and bubble as before, and soon overflowing the pit, resumed its course down the narrow channel of the gulley, and all was restored to the state in which we found it. You will before this have discovered that the water was cold, and that the boiling and burning of this fiery deep was only the effect of inflammable gas, which escaping from the bowels of the earth, and rising from the bottom of the pit, supported the flame when it was empty, and bubbling through it when it was filled with water, gave it the appearance of a boiling spring. During the combustion the smell of the inflammable air was very powerful."

CHAPTER LXII.

NATURAL HISTORY.

"It is not necessary that every individual should make deep researches on this subject, nor be a learned naturalist; it is enough to attend to the most familiar and best known things before us." Sturm.

As I have spoken of the fruits and prolific vegetation of the tropics, it may not be amiss to say something of their natural history.

Man is not the only inhabitant of the Antilles; their impervious forests, their green woods, their lofty mountains, and their smiling valleys, are peopled with animals in thousands, birds in millions, insects in myriads; there is a wide field for the naturalist as well as the botanist, and if there are but few discoveries it is because there is little research.

The animals found in these islands are for the most part wild, though none of them are beasts of prey. The following list will I think include the

most common.

The agouti, the armadillo, the opossum, the monkey, the guana, the lizard, the musk rat, and one or

two more.

The agouti is an animal much larger than a rat,

though not so big as a rabbit, and in its appearance it bears a resemblance to both of these, but to the rat more especially. Mr. Edwards is mistaken when he says that," in most of the islands to windward, the race, though once common to all, is now utterly extinct." On the contrary, they are still found in considerable numbers in nearly all the islands, and the negroes, who take much pleasure in hunting them, consume them, when caught, with the goût of an alderman over turtle.

The armadillo derives its nomenclature from the curious armour which preserves the upper part of its body, and is composed of scaly substances of irregular size covering the rump and shoulders of the animal, and of more regular bands, folding one over another, along the back. Its feet have long claws, with which it burrows out a retreat in some secluded spot, and there dwells, hermit-like, in perfect harmlessness, feeding on grain, worms, and other small insects, which it generally seeks for in the night. It is said to drink a great deal, and it breeds often, bringing forth several young at a birth. It can coil itself up into a small compass and is then invulnerable; it generally does this when attacked. Those who have eaten it declare it to be fine food.

There are six species of armadillos, known by the number of bands that surround their bodies; that of the Antilles is the novemcinctus, or nine-banded armadillo, and I have often seen it stuffed to perfection.

The opossum, which the negroes call a manicou,

is another curious animal well known to naturalists. The pouch, or fold of skin beneath the belly, in which it receives its young and there suckles them until they are able to shift for themselves, is a very remarkable contrivance. These animals are very numerous in the West Indies, and rather mischievous in preying upon the poultry of the plantations. They are also fond of fruit, and very expert in climbing the trees to procure it; they have a low squeaking voice, and, like others of the same genus, an unpleasant smell.

I am told they may be easily tamed, but I never tried the experiment, though I once caught a female with four young ones in her pouch.

Of monkeys, in the West Indies, I belive there are several of the small species, but more particularly in Jamaica, Trinidad, Demerara, and Berbice; I do not think they are very numerous in the other islands, at all events I never saw one.

The guana is a large sort of lizard which is found in nearly all the West India Islands, but is more rare in some than in others. Those I saw were chiefly of a bright green color and very beautiful; they are quite harmless and subsist principally on fruit. They are often eaten by the inhabitants of the Antilles, though Edwards tells us that the English "did not often serve them at elegant tables, but their French and Spanish neighbors, less squeamish, still devoured them with exquisite relish :" and he then adds; "I imagine, too, they have good reason, for I have been assured, by a lady of great beauty and

elegance, that the guana is equal in flavor and wholesomeness to the finest green turtle."

Now I had read this passage more than once, and yet, notwithstanding the assurance of Mr. Edwards's female acquaintance of great beauty and elegance, I never could bring myself to taste the white, mawky, chickenlike, and tender flesh of a fricasseed guana; it always reminded me of the cat which regaled Gil Blas de Santillane, or of the hind legs of those delicious little frogs which are cooked by connoisseurs for les gourmands de Paris.

I said the guana was a species of lizard, and of lizards the Antilles contain thousands and tens of thousands, of all kinds and colors. Many of them are very beautiful and many very disagreeable, but all perfectly harmless. They are very fond of music of any kind; and I have often seen one remain immovable on the branch of a tree, and give his whole attention to me, while merely whistling in a low tone, and, when listening to this, it would suffer itself to be caught without attempting to run away.

The most disgusting and disagreeable of this species of animal is the wood-slave, a sort of brown and gray lizard; I, however, believe it to be harmless, notwithstanding the assertions of the negroes, who dread it on account of its tenacity, and declare that all whom it may touch are liable to get the leprosy, although I do not believe that any instance can be advanced of its having produced such an effect. The tail of this animal will continue alive