292 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA. Chap. IT, 



strung them together through the gills with slender 

 sipos, and hung them on the trees to await our return 

 later in the day. 



Leaving the bed of the creek, we marched onwards, 

 always towards the centre of the land ; guided by the 

 sun, which now glimmered through the thick foliage 

 overhead. About eleven o'clock we saw a break in the 

 forest before us, and presently emerged on the banks 

 of a considerable sheet of water. This was one of the 

 interior pools of which there are so many in this district. 

 The margins were elevated some few feet, and sloped 

 down to the water, the ground being hard and dry to 

 the water's edge, and covered with shrubby vegetation. 

 We passed completely round this pool, finding the 

 crowns of the trees on its borders tenanted by curassow 

 birds, whose presence was betrayed as usual by the pe- 

 culiar note which they emit. My companions shot two 

 of them. At the farther end of the lake lay a deep 

 watercourse, which we traced for about half a mile, and 

 found to communicate with another and smaller pool. 

 This second one evidently swarmed with turtles, as we 

 saw the snouts of many peering above the surface of the 

 water : the same had not been seen in the larger lake, 

 probably because we had made too much noise in hail- 

 ing our discovery, on approaching its banks. My friends 

 made an arrangement on the sj)ot for returning to this 

 pool, after the termination of the egg harvest on Catua. 



In recrossing the space between the two pools, we 

 heard the crash of monkeys in the crowns of trees over- 

 head. The chace of these occupied us a considerable 

 time. Jose fired at length at one of the laggards of the 



