The guns were made ready, and each of the party selected a tree for his own shooting. They loaded and fired as fast as possible for half an hour or more, and every shot brought down at least one bat. At the end of that time the bats were thoroughly alarmed by the noise of the shooting, and flew around in a dense crowd. More of them were killed while circling in the air, till finally they went off in a body, and alighted on a neighboring island where nobody cared to pursue them.
THE IGUANA.
Then the sport changed to shooting iguanas, a species of lizard five or six feet long, that lives among the rocks near the shore of the lake. Several of these were killed; but, as there was no need of skill, our friends were soon satisfied, and concluded not to slaughter any more. When the bats and iguanas that had been shot were piled together at the landing-place, one of the boys very naturally asked, "What will we do with them?"
"As to that," said their host, "it is a question easily answered; we'll give them to our native boatmen, who will be very glad to have such a present. The flesh of both bat and iguana is delicate, but Europeans have a prejudice against it, and so we do not put it on our tables as a regular article of food. If you would like to try it we will have some prepared for dinner, and if you can lay aside prejudice, I am sure you will find it excellent."
The boys concluded they would not venture on an experiment, although they frankly acknowledged that nothing but prejudice kept them from doing so. "The bat," said Fred, "is what we may call a clean feeder, and so is the iguana, if what I have read of their habits is correct; but prejudice is against them, and we will let them alone."
"Yes," responded Frank, continuing on the topic, "none of us have any prejudice against pork, yet the hog is the farthest possible from being a model of neatness in his habits. We would not eat dog or cat, but there is no more dainty animal in the world than a well-reared terrier or house-tabby."
