398 CHELONIA 



CHAP. 



civilised Indians use a steel-pointed lance of hard wood, about 

 10 feet in length. A string connects the point with the shaft 

 around which it is wound. When stuck into the tortoise the 

 shaft and point part ; the string is either tied to the boat or to 

 a little float of light wood. In other districts an arrow with a 

 string is employed. 



In August, when the water subsides, the tortoises return to 

 the rivers, and the entrance of the lagoon is closed with nets. 

 A number of boats with long poles drive them with much noise 

 towards the entrance. On their way to the rivers the tortoises 

 always go up-stream, and this is called the " arribagao das 

 tartarugas," the ascent of the turtles. The fishermen post them- 

 selves at shallow spots or on sand-banks, and wait for the 

 creatures which come up to find a place for landing and laying. 

 The arrows employed are called sararaca, i.e. a thing which can 

 be disjointed ; they are about 4 feet long, and consist of a goyno 

 or internodium of wood 9 inches long with a one- or tw^o-barbed 

 steel point, and the shaft into which the go7no fits loosely. The 

 gomo is, moreover, connected with the shaft by a string made of 

 palm-fibres about 30 feet in length, partly wound round the 

 shaft, which ultimately acts as a float. 



The laying takes place from the end of September into 

 October. Some of the parents seem to reconnoitre on land for 

 a few days. As a rule only females do this, and the natives 

 say that they are led by a " mestra." The laying takes place 

 early in the morning. The number of females is so great that 

 they often block the way of the boats, and make a great noise 

 by knocking against their neighbours' shells. Each digs a hole 

 about 18 inches or 2 feet deep, and lays from 80 to 200 eggs. 

 Sometimes the laying iiidi\i<lu;il is entirely buried l)y its neicrli- 

 hours which are scraping their own holes. 



In some districts tlie eggs are wanted for " manteiga " 

 (Portuguese for butter) ; and the turning over, or viragad of the 

 tortoises takes place later. In other districts they are caught 

 before the eggs are laid, and this barbaric and destructive custom 

 was formerly forl:)idden by the people themselves. Although the 

 provincial assembly tried to reinstitute the old reasonable customs, 

 the inspectors are often got over by bribery. 



There are two ways of extracting the oil from the eggs. To 

 get the thick oil used, mixed with tar, for shipbuilding, caulking. 



