THE TO UNO TORTOISES. 193 



soned arrows, whilst, with upraised heads and paws ex- 

 tcmled. the animals are wanning themselves in the sun. 



Though the little turtles (tortuguillos) may have burst 

 the shells of their eggs during the day, they are never seen to 

 come out of the ground but at night. The Indians assert 

 that the young animal fears the heat of the sun. They 

 tried also to show us, that when the tortuguillo is carried in 

 a bag to a distance from the shore, and placed in such a 

 manner that its tail is turned to the river, it takes without 

 hesitation the shortest way to the water. I confess, that 

 this experiment, of which Father Gumilla speaks, does not 

 always succeed equally well : yet in general it does appear 

 that at great distances from the shore, and even in an 

 island, these little animals feel with extreme delicacy in 

 what direction the most humid air prevails. 



Reflecting on the almost uninterrupted layer of eggs that 

 extends along the beach, and on the thousands of little 

 turtles that seek the water as soon as they are hatched, it 

 is difficult to admit that the many turtles which have made 

 their nests in the same spot, can distinguish their own 

 young, and lead them, like the crocodiles, to the lakes in 

 the vicinity of the Orinoco. It is certain, however, that 

 the animal passes the first years of its life in pools where 

 the water is shallow, and does not return to the bed of the 

 threat river till it is full-grown. How then do the tortuguillos 

 find these pools ? Are they led thither by female turtles, 

 which adopt the young as by chance ? The crocodiles, less 

 numerous, deposit their eggs in separate holes; and, in this 

 family of saurians, the female returns about the time when 

 the incubation is terminated, calls her young, which answer 

 to her voice, and often assists them to get out of the ground. 

 The arrau tortoise, no doubt, like the crocodile, knows the 

 spot where she has made her nest; but, not daring to 

 return to the beach on which the Indians have formed their 

 encampment, how can she distinguish her own young from 

 those which do not belong to her? On the other hand, 

 the Ottomac Indians declare that, at the period of inun- 

 dation, they have met with female turtles followed by a 

 great number of young ones. These were perhaps arraus 

 whose eggs had been deposited on a desert beach to which 

 they could return. Mules are extremely rare among these 



VOL. IJ O 



