130 MAD TURTLES. 



bIiouW be performed tranquilly, place sentinels at certain 

 distances along the shore. The people who pass in boats 

 are told to keep in the middle of the river, and not 

 frighten the turtles by cries. The laying of the eggs 

 tak,es place always during the night, and it begins soon 

 after sunset. With its hind feet, which are very long, 

 and furnished with crooked claws, the animal digs a hole 

 of three feet in diameter and two in depth. These turtles 

 feel so pressing a desire to lay their eggs, that some of 

 them descend into holes that have been dug by others, 

 but which are not yet covered with earth. There they 

 deposit a new layer of eggs on that which has been 

 recently laid. In this tumultuous movement an immense 

 number of eggs are broken. The missionary showed the 

 travellers, by removing the sand in several places, that 

 this loss probably amounted to a fifth of the whole quan- 

 tity. The yelk of the broken eggs contributes, in drying, 

 to cement the sand ; and they found very large concre- 

 tions of grains of quartz and broken shells. The num- 

 ber of animals working on the beach during the night is 

 so considerable, that day surprises many of them before 

 the laying of their eggs is terminated. They are then 

 urged on by the double necessity of depositing their eggs, 

 and closing the holes they have dug, that they may not 

 be perceived by the jaguars. The turtles that thus re- 

 main too late are insensible to their own danger. They 

 work in the presence of the Indians, who visit the beach 

 at a very early hour, and who call them ' mad turtles.' 

 Notwithstanding the rapidity of their movements, they 

 are then easily caught with the hand. 



The encampments formed by the Indians began about 

 the end of March or commencement of April. The 



