ZAPOTE. .205 



"The R(>3ks of tlie Turtles." The sailors would have 

 thrown themselves into the water to catch some of these 

 animals; but the numerous sharks that accompanied them, 

 rendered the attempt too perilous. The sharks fixed 

 their jaws on great iron hooks which were flung to them ; 

 these hooks were very sharp and, for want of fish-hooks 

 wdth chains, they were tied to cords. The sharks were in 

 this manner drawn up half the length of their bodies ; 

 and the voyagers were surprised to see that those which 

 had their mouths wounded and bleeding continued to 

 seize the bait over and over again during several hours. 

 The passage from the island of Cuba to the coast of 

 South America terminated at the mouth of the Eio Sinu, 

 and it occupied sixteen days. The roadstead near the 

 Punta del Zapote afforded bad anchorage ; and in a rough 

 sea, and with a hard wind, the travellers found some 

 difficulty in reaching the coast. Everything denoted 

 that they had entered a wild region, rarely visited by 

 strangers. A few scattered houses formed the village of 

 Zapote : they found a great number of mariners assem- 

 bled under a sort of shed, all men of colour, who had 

 descended the Rio Sinu in their barks, to carry maize, 

 bananas, poultry, and other provisions, to the port of 

 Carthagena. Their barks, which were from fifty to 

 eighty feet long, belonged for the most part to the planters 

 of Lorica. The Zambos of the Rio Sinu wearied the 

 travellers with idle questions respecting the purpose of 

 their voyage, their books, and the use of their instru- 

 ments. They regarded them with mistrust; and to 

 escape from their importunate curiosity, the travellers 

 went to herborize in the forest, although it rained. The 

 Zambos had endeavoured, as usual, to alarm them by 



