IX PELOMEDUSIDAE 397 



he strikes it with ;i second arrow. With tlie increased hold 

 given hy the two cords lie has then no difficulty in landing his 

 game. 



" By mid-day the men had shot about a score of nearly full- 

 grown turtles. Cardozo then gave orders to spread the net. . . . 

 Three boat loads, or about eighty, were secured in aljout twenty 

 minutes. They were then taken ashore and each one secured 

 by the men tying the legs with thongs of bast. 



" When the canoes had been twice tilled we desisted after a 

 very hard day's work. Nearly all the animals were young ones, 

 chietiy, according to the statement of Pedro, from three to ten 

 years of age; they varied from 6 to 18 inches in length, and 

 were very fat. Cardozo and I lived almost exclusively on 

 them for several months afterwards. Eoasted in the shell they 

 form a most appetising dish. These younger turtles never 

 migrate with their elders on the sinking of the waters, but 

 remain in the tepid pools, fattening on fallen frviits, and, accord- 

 ing to the natives, on the fine nutritious mud. We captured a 

 few full-grown mother turtles, which were known at once by the 

 horny skin of their breast plates being worn, telling of their 

 having crawled on the sand to lay eggs the previous year. 

 They had evidently made a mistake in not leaving the pool at 

 the proper time, for they were full of eggs, which, we were told, 

 they would, before the season was over,* scatter in despair over the 

 swamp. We also found several male turtles, or capitaris, as tliey 

 are called by the natives. These are immensely less numerous 

 than the females, and are distinguishable by their much smaller 

 size, more circular shape, and the greater length and thickness of 

 their tails. Their flesh is considered unwholesome, especially to 

 sick people having external signs of inflammation." 



The most recent account of these water tortoises is that 

 published by Dr. Goeldi from the MS. of Joao Martins da Silva 

 Continho, a former resident at Mamios on the Middle Amazon. 

 The " Tartaruga " (the Portuguese name for turtles) live from 

 January to July in the inundated, quiet backwaters of the forest- 

 region, feeding upon the various seeds of palms as these ripen and 

 drop successively; rarely, and only when liard up, they are 

 carnivorous. The creatures hide under water below the trees, 

 when they are espied by the Indians, who dive down to a depth 

 of twenty and more feet to catch them in their arms. The 



