AT FOOT OF THE SNOW MOUNTAINS 207 



salt and exposed them, bound and gagged, to the full 

 heat of the sun until they led the way to water. 



But let us get back to the more pleasant proof of 

 the savage skill in hunting, afforded by my cook boy, 

 who seemed to be able to tell a turtle nest with fresh 

 eggs from a nest with stale eggs by the mere appearance 

 of the sand. The turtle egg of course has no hard shell. 

 It is soft and round, something the shape of an india- 

 rubber ball with a dent in it. We collected a great 

 number of the eggs for food for the boys and decided 

 to pay a visit to the sandbank by night, in the hope of 

 thus getting some fresh turtle. The sandbank was 

 about half a mile long and obviously it had been 

 sometimes visited by pearl-divers' crews, or by some 

 other human beings, for the turtles did not stay ashore 

 near their nests, but only visited the place on the top 

 of the tide. In other places, where they are not 

 disturbed, you will find the turtles basking about on 

 the sandbanks near their nests in the laying season. 



Going ashore in the dark we encountered a great 

 deal of difficulty on account of the fast running of the 

 tide, but we succeeded in getting safely to the bank 

 and captured a couple of turtles weighing about 

 3 cwt. each the big, green-fat, eating turtles. One 

 we took away to our vessel that night in the dinghy 

 and left the other (turned upon its back so that it 

 could not escape), and collected it in the morning. 



These large turtles have very strong jaws and their 

 bite can be very dangerous. I have seen one crush 



