There was no distinguishing mark yet formed
but the dewlap below the throat. The dorsal spines, the large erect
scales, all those appendages that render the iguana so remarkable when
it attains its full growth, were scarcely traceable.
The flesh of this animal of the saurian family appeared to us to have
an agreeable taste in every country where the climate is very dry; we
even found it so at periods when we were not in want of other food. It
is extremely white, and next to the flesh of the armadillo, one of the
best kinds of food to be found in the huts of the natives.
It rained toward evening, and before the rain fell, swallows, exactly
resembling our own, skimmed over the surface of the water. We saw also
a flock of paroquets pursued by little goshawks without crests. The
piercing cries of these paroquets contrasted singularly with the
whistling of the birds of prey. We passed the night in the open air,
upon the beach, near the island of Carizales. There were several
Indian huts in the neighbourhood, surrounded with plantations. Our
pilot assured us beforehand that we should not hear the cries of the
jaguar, which, when not extremely pressed by hunger, withdraws from
places where he does not reign unmolested. "Men put him out of humour"
(los hombres lo enfadan), say the people in the Missions.
