dry, sterile district, full of honeycombed limestone rocks, in which the vegetation was most peculiar. Great succulent plants were springing from the stony soil, and even from the cavities of the rotten rock. Thick, fleshy-leaved aloes ; the great maguey or agave, with its tall, candelabra-like flower-stem; tunas, and other cacti, were abundant. Many aromatic and resinous trees, mostly gnarled and spinous, with scanty foliage, the acacia, the inga, and the blueflowered guaiaco, with the prickly mayal, and many balmy mallows and other balsamic shrubs, gave a character to this region which sufficiently distinguished it from others.

A herd of wild goats that had been feeding on the aromatic foliage scampered into the woods at sight of the party; and hundreds of lizards of several species were seen basking and glittering on the sunny rocks, or rustled among the dry leaves and twigs on every side.

Here, then, the Indian began to search for the iguana, by carefully examining the forks of the trees. Nor was it long before he saw one on the horizontal limb of an inga, peeping round the trunk at the intruder. The hunter had torn off, and cast away the ring and net, and had fastened to the end of his staff a noose made of a slender but tough withe. He held this out before him, approaching the uncouth reptile with slow and measured steps, singing all the while a monotonous chant in a shrill key. The others looked on with interest, especially Don Carlos, who had never seen a lizard of this size before. The animal was about two ells in length, with an enormous dewlap under the throat, the edge of which as well as the back, was armed with a stiff ridge, and cut into spinous teeth like a saw. The reptile was crouched lengthwise on the branch, with its head resting on the bark; and it did not move, apparently being absorbed by the Indian's song.

The latter presented his noose to the muzzle of the

CATCHING AN IGUANA.

37

iguana; but as the creature's head was in contact with the branch, he gave it a slight tap with a switch which he held in his left hand; the head rose at the touch, and the noose slid over the neck, the creature manifesting no more recognition of the action than a glance of the eye as the withe slipped by. In a moment the music ceased, and with a sudden, rapid jerk the iguana was whisked from the tree, and hung dangling in great wrath at the end of the staff. The saw-toothed tail was whisked viciously from side to side, and the enraged animal vainly strove to seize the withe in its teeth, but one or two well-aimed blows on the head quelled its fury, and it soon joined the group of dead game around the waist of the Indian, who now returned to his secluded valley.

The circuitous course which the friends had followed had led them to the margin of the Savanna of the Iasse river, and to the foot of the Pardave hills. Hence they were not far from the Padre's cottage, whom they overtook as he was leisurely returning home from a neighbouring village.

The adventures of the travellers were of course narrated, but nothing excited the curiosity of the priest so much as the details of the feast provided for the hog-hunters at Velasquez's ajoupa.

“And so you had an olla podrida! Yes, I have heard that they grow garlic and leeks and onions up in those cold mountains. Ay de mi! ay de mi! I would I'd been with you! Often have I tried to raise those excellent herbs in my garden; but alas! the hot sun burns them up to a stick. Well, Fortune favours the brave;' if you had not toiled up the mountain you would not have had the olla podrida!"

For several weeks Don Carlos continued the guest of Señor Gomez, who devoted himself with untiring kindness to the gratification of his intelligent friend. What further scenes they visited and what other sights they saw we cannot inform the reader, for the record has not come down to us.

At length the time came that he must return. The Señor, and the Padre, who had been a pretty constant companion of the young nobleman, accompanied him for several miles on the road to St. Domingo before they would say farewell. And the unwelcome word was not uttered without sincere regret on every side.

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Adieu, worthy father! I crave your blessing on my voyage. If any word of mine at the court of His Serene Majesty, or in the ear of his illustrious eminence the Inqui sitor-general, with whom I have the honour of an humble acquaintance, can serve you, be assured it shall not be lacking."

"Muchisimas gracias, Señor. 'A friend at court is better than a long purse.' All I will say is, Do not forget el pobre heremito and his little bird with the scarlet cap in the caimito tree. A Dios! A Dios! Vaya!" he muttered, as he turned away and lifted the corner of his woollen chaqueta to his misty eyes, "how the dust blows!"

"And you, my kind friend! I need not say that you will live in my remembrance. To you I am indebted for making this visit one of great delight; and I shall carry back to Spain, with the information thus acquired, the sincerest gratitude and affection for the generous friend to whom it is so greatly due. May God bless you both!

Farewell!"

The planter wrung his friend's hand in silence, and they parted.

THE PADRE'S PROMOTION.

39

Not many months had elapsed before the same ship which brought to Señor Gomez a large package of books -a choice selection of Spanish literature-conveyed to Padre Tomaso a huge letter sealed with the arms of the Inquisitorial Office. He opened it with trembling hands, well knowing the awful nature of documents from the Holy Office; but was reassured when he read his appointment to be Prior of the Convent of San Geronimo of Borja, in place of Father Juan de Padilla, lately deceased.

Whether the Padre ever attained the scarlet hat and hose we have not heard. The latest intelligence concerning him that has reached us represented him as increasing in corpulence, with a most venerable duplicity of chin, sitting in the midst of his monks, over whom he exercised a gentle rule, and whom he delighted to entertain with glowing descriptions of the delicacies that he had enjoyed beyond seas, and especially of those prime dainties, grilled pimentapigeons, fricasseed iguana, and jerked pork. Yet he would sometimes add, with a significant wink, that a genuine olla podrida was worth them all.

A SABBATH AMONG THE RUNAWAY NEGROES AT NIAGARA.

THE town of Niagara is at a considerable distance from the Falls. It lies on the British side of the river, at the point where it discharges its yet troubled and trembling waters into the great bosom of Lake Ontario. We arrived there on a Saturday at eleven o'clock. Having heard a good deal of the colony of Runaway Slaves settled in this quarter, I selected a black charioteer, who was pointed out to me as one of them, from among the cabmen waiting on the wharf; and, after seeing my companion comfortably ensconced in the interior, I mounted the box, and took my seat beside him, in order to have some talk with him by the way. He looked rather surprised, but at the same time much pleased, by this move on my part; his dark face brightened up immediately like night "revisited by the glimpses of the moon ;" and, from the smart way in which he held his reins and handled his whip, it seemed as if he wished the horses to understand that his master was in good company, and that he must therefore be on his best behaviour. I did not know till afterwards how these poor coloured people are shunned and kept at a distance even by our own countrymen in Canada, and the importance which they consequently attach to the slightest notice that is taken of them by any respectable European. Their gratification, in such cases, is all the greater from the childish vanity by which they are very generally characterised, and which leads. them to think that there must be something specially interesting and attractive about themselves before any decentlydressed white man would condescend to approach them, or to hold any familiar conversation with them. Finding my