The Crocodiles here also devour abundance of Cattel.
Strange kind of Scorpions.
The Scorpions, which are black, and resemble a Lobster, breed under dry Wood or Corn; their Stings are hid in their Tails, with which if any one be touch’d, he is sure to endure an intolerable pain, but without danger of losing his Life for the present, yet nothing can perfectly cure the same, except the Scorpion kill’d and laid on the Wound.
The Bats here are as big as Pigeons, and they suck the Blood of Men and Beasts so gently, that they seldom perceive the same.
The Pismires also do great mischief, especially in sandy Grounds; and likewise the Musketo’s, whose Stings cause painful Swellings; but these most of all trouble them that inhabit near the Sea side on low Lands, insomuch that the Fisher-men bury themselves in the Night in Sand, leaving onely Holes to breathe at.
Frogs and Toads also make a terrible noise here, and especially after Rain.
Commodities of the Countrey.
The Soil is inferior to none in the World, for the production of Sugar; but the general Commodities of the Countrey are Flax, Cotton, Hemp, the Berry Annoto, which Dyes an excellent Orange colour, another Berry which Dyes a deep Blue, a Tree whose Leaves Dye a Red, and the Wood of another Tree whose Juice Dyes a Purple and Crimson.
Moreover, Guiana produces the Gums Lemnia, Barattu, and Carriman, which being black and prickly, smells very pleasantly, and cures the Head-ache, Bruises, Pains in the Limbs, Gouts, and green Wounds. The same operation hath the Gum Baratta.
Here are also good Sena, Bolus Armenius, Cassia-Fistula, Terra-Lemnia, the Berry Kelette, very effectual against the Bloody-flux, the Juice of the Leaf Upee, which cures the Wounds of poyson’d Arrows, and a sort of somniferous Apples, whereof the least bite occasions a deadly Sleep.