The Island Is Very Woody, Affording Large Timber, Which Is
Often Shipped Hence For Peru.
There are here a few wild monkeys, with
abundance of lizards; among which is one called the lion-lizard, about
the size of a man's arm, one that I measured being three feet eleven
inches from the head to the end of the tail.
It has a kind of large comb
on its head, standing up like a helmet, as if to defend its head, and
when attacked it erects this comb, which otherwise lies in a deep groove
on the head, just fitted for its reception, so that it can hardly be
seen when down. This animal has very large eyes, and a large mouth, in
which are a great many small sharp teeth. The skin is rough and of a
dark colour, full of black, yellow, and bluish spots. It runs very
swift, yet our dog caught many of them.
[Footnote 209: Lat. 1 deg. 56' N. long. 78 deg. 50' W. from Greenwich. - E.]
After remaining here five days, we began to hoist our anchors to set
sail, when we discovered a ship standing in for the island, which we
took. She was a small vessel of fifty tons, commanded by a Mestizo, on
board of which we found a Guernsey man, who had been taken by the
Spaniards, while cutting logwood in the Bay of Campeachy above two years
before, and must have continued a prisoner during life if we had not
released him.
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