r several times in the trip
through the jungles he had jumped aside at a sight of the big
lizards, which are almost as large as cats. They are probably the
ugliest creatures in existence, if we except the horned toad and
the rhinoceros.

"Eat them! I should say they did!" cried the guide. "Come over
here."

He led the way toward a hut and there the boys saw a most
repulsive, and, to them, cruel sight. There were several of the
big iguanas, or lizards, with their short legs twisted and crossed
over their backs. And, to keep the legs in this position the sharp
claw of one foot was thrust through the fleshy part of another
foot. The tail of each iguana had been cut off.

"What in the world do they do that for?" asked Blake.

"That's how they fatten the iguanas," the guide said. "The natives
catch them alive, and to keep them from crawling off they fasten
their legs in that manner. And, as the tail isn't good to eat,
they chop that off."

"It's cruel!" cried Joe.

"Yes, but the Indians don't mean it so," the guide went on. "They
are really too lazy to do anything else. If some one told them it
was work to keep the lizards as they do, instead of just shutting
them up in a box to stay until they were needed to be killed for
food, they'd stop this practice. They'd do anything to get out of
work; but this plan seems to them to be the easiest, so they keep
it up."

"Is iguana really good eating?" asked Joe.

"Yes, it tastes like chicken," the guide informed them. "But few
white persons can bring themselves to eat it."

"I'd rather have the fruits," said Mr. Alcando. The boys had eaten
two of the jungle variety. One was the _mamaei_, which was about
as large as a peach, and the other the _sapodilla_, fruit of the
color of a plum. The seeds are in a jelly-like mass.

"You eat them and don't have to be afraid of appendicitis," said
the Spaniard with a laugh.

Several views were taken in the jungle "village," as Joe called
it, and then they went farther on into the deep woods.

"Whew! It's hot!" exclaimed Joe, as they stopped to pitch a camp
for dinner. "I'm going to have a swim." They were near a
good-sized stream.

"I'm with you," said Blake, and the boys were soon splashing away
in the water, which was cool and pleasant.

"Aren't you coming in?" called Blake to Mr. Alcando, who was on
shore.

"Yes, I think I will join you," he replied. He had begun to
undress, when Blake, who had swum half-way across the st