170 CHELONIANS. 



forest trees — palmate-leaved Cecropim; slender Assai palms thirty 

 feet liigh, with their thin feathery heads crowning their gently- 

 curving, smooth stems ; and, as a background to these airy 

 forms, lay the voluminous masses of ordinary forest trees, with 

 garlands, festoons, and streamers of leafy parasites hanging from 

 their branches." 



The pool which was hemmed in by this gorgeous scenery was 

 nowhere more than five feet deep, and of that one foot was a fine 

 soft mud. Cardoza and the author spent an hour paddling about 

 admiring the skill displayed by the Indians in shooting Turtles. 

 They did not wait for the animals to come to the surface to breathe, 

 but watched for the slightest movements in the water which 

 revealed their presence underneath ; that instant an arrow flew 

 from the bow of the nearest man, which never failed to pierce the 

 shell of the submerged animal, and by mid-day about a score of 

 full-grown Turtles had been shot. The net was now spread at 

 one extremity of the oval-shaped pool, its side resting on the 

 bottom, while the floats buoyed the other side up on the sur- 

 face, the cords being held by two Indians. The rest of the party 

 now spread themselves round the pool, beating the water with long 

 poles, in order to drive the Turtles towards the centre. When they 

 neared the net, the men moved more quicklj^ beating and shouting 

 with great vigour. The ends of the net were now seized with 

 vigorous hands, and dragged suddenly forward, bringing them at 

 the same time together, so as to enclose all within a circle. Every 

 man then leapt into the enclosure, the boats were brought up, and 

 the captured Turtles were thrown in. In this manner about eighty 

 were secured in twenty minutes. 



Among these were several male Turtles, or capetaris, as they 

 are called by the natives. They are much less numerous than the 

 females, much smaller, and more circular in shape ; their flesh is 

 considered unwholesome. 



On the 17th of October, the day announced for the taboliero, or 

 egg-digging, Mr. Bates made a last excursion in Senhor Cardoza's 

 company. Egg-collecting occupied four days. On the morning 

 of the 17th about four hundred persons were assembled on the 

 sand-bank ; each family had erected a rude temporary shed of 

 poles and palm-leaves, to protect themselves from sun and rain. 



