22 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



and boys who wander along the banks of the streams and 

 pools where there is water. Morocoy, as the tortoise is 

 called in Venezuela and Trinidad, is a favourite dish 

 when well prepared. These reptiles can remain a con- 

 siderable length of time without food. The liver of the 

 tortoise is large compared with its body, and it shrinks in 

 proportion to the length of time during which its owner 

 has been deprived of nourishment ; and this has given 

 rise to the belief among the people that the animal eats 

 its liver when it is unable to obtain any other food. 



During this day's march we were followed by large 

 gnats, which gave us a good deal of trouble. So per- 

 sistent were they in their efforts to bite us, that there 

 appeared to be no other means of getting rid of them, 

 except by allowing them to alight, when they could be 

 killed by a sharp slap. They would keep buzzing around 

 our heads until they could settle on some bare spot, when 

 they would nip off a bit of skin and clear out with their 

 booty, to return a few moments afterwards with appetites 

 whetted by the taste of so dainty a morsel. The Indians, 

 who were clothed after the fashion of Adam before he got 

 into trouble, suffered most from their attentions. Em- 

 barrassed with their packs, they found it difficult to keep 

 off their tormentors, for they had more than their hands 

 and faces to look after. On this occasion my naked 

 companions must have been convinced that there was 

 some advantage in being clothed. Considering that these 

 Indians undertake journeys, often lasting for months, 

 through dense thorny bush where wasps and ants are 

 plentiful, it is marvellous to note how smooth and free 

 from marks their skins are as a rule. How they can get 

 through certain parts of the forest where the ground is 

 actually littered with thorns has puzzled me. A man 



