280 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IV. 



The young men made several hunting excursions 

 during the fourteen days of our stay on Catua, and I, 

 being associated with them in all their pleasures, made 

 generally one of the party. These were, besides, the 

 sole occasions on which I could add to my collections, 

 whilst on these barren sands. Only two of these trips 

 afforded incidents worth relating. 



The first, which was made to the interior of the 

 wooded island of Catua, was not a very successful one. 

 We were twelve in number, all armed with guns and 

 long hunting-knives. Long before sunrise, my friends 

 woke me up from my hammock, where I lay, as usual, 

 in the clothes worn during the day ; and after taking 

 each a cup-full of cashaca and ginger (a very general 

 practice in early morning on the sandbanks), we com- 

 menced our walk. The waning moon still lingered in 

 the clear sky, and a profound stillness pervaded sleep- 

 ing camp, forest, and stream. Along the line of ranches 

 glimmered the fires made by each party to dry turtle- 

 eggs for food, the eggs being spread on little wooden 

 stages over the smoke. The distance to the forest from 

 our place of starting was about two miles, being nearly 

 the whole length of the sandbank, which was also a 

 very broad one ; the highest part, where it was covered 

 with a thicket of dwarf willows, mimosas, and arrow 

 grass, lying near the ranchos. We loitered much on 

 the way, and the day dawned whilst we were yet on 

 the road : the sand at this early hour feeling quite cold 

 to the naked feet. As soon as we were able to distinguish 

 things, the surface of the praia was seen to be dotted 

 with small black objects. These were newly-hatched 





