Chap. IV. TRACAJA FISHING. 253 



I spent the morning of the 27th collecting insects in 

 the woods of Shinxuni ; assisting my friend in the after- 

 noon to beat a large pool for Tracajas, Cardozo wishing 

 to obtain a supply for his table at home. The pool was 

 nearly a mile long, and lay on one side of the island 

 between the forest and the sand-bank. The sands are 

 heaped up very curiously around the margins of these 

 isolated sheets of water ; in the present case they 

 formed a steeply-inclined bank, from five to eight feet 

 in height. What may be the cause of this formation 

 I cannot imagine. The pools always contain a quan- 

 tity of imprisoned fish, turtles, tracajas, and Aiyussas.* 

 The turtles and Aiyussas crawl out voluntarily in the 

 course of a few days, and escape to the main river, but 

 the Tracajas remain and become an easy prey to the 

 natives. The ordinary mode of obtaining them is to 

 whip the water in every part with rods for several 

 hours during the day ; this treatment having the effect 

 of driving the animals out. They wait, however, until 

 the night following the beating before making their 

 exit. Our Indians were occupied for many hours in 

 this work, and when night came they and the sentinels 

 were placed at intervals along the edge of the water to 

 be ready to capture the runaways. Cardozo and I, after 

 supper, went and took our station at one end of the 

 pool. 



We did not succeed, after all our trouble, in getting 

 many Tracajas. This was partly owing to the intense 

 darkness of the night, and partly, doubtless, to the 



* Specimens of this species of turtle are named in the British 

 Museum collection, Podocnemis expansa. 



