260 



TURTLE-FISIIING. 



Dcpai-ture. 



l':i.>sof Don 

 L listoval. 



CHAP. XXI. surrounded by marshes, covered with rushes and plants 

 idCikiiTo. ^^' the Iris family, among which appear here and there 

 a few stunted palms. The marslies are infested by two 

 species of crocodile, one of which has an elongated snout, 

 and is very ferocious. The hack is dark-green, the 

 belly white, and the flanks are covered with yellow 

 spots. 



On the 0th of March our travellers again set sail in a 

 small sloop, and proceeded through the gulf of Bata- 

 bano, which is bounded by a low and swampy coast. 

 Humboldt employed himself in examining the influence 

 which the bottom of the sea produces on the temperature 

 of its surface, and in determining the position of some 

 remarkable islands. The water of the gulf was so 

 shallow, that the sloop often struck ; but the ground 

 being soft and the weather calm, no damage was sus- 

 tained. At sunset they anchored near the pass of Don 

 Cristoval, which was entirely desei-tod, although in the 

 time of Columbus it was possessed by fishermen. The 

 inliabitants of Cuba then employed a singular method 

 for procuring turtles ; they fastened a long cord to the 

 tail of a species of ecJiineis or sticking-fish, which has a 

 flat disk with a sucking apparatus on its head. By 

 means of this it stuck to the turtle, and was pulled 

 ashore carrying the latter with it. Tlie same artifice is 

 resorted to by the natives of certain parts of the African 

 coast. 



They were three days on tlieir passage through the 

 Archipelago of the Jardincs and Jardinillos, small 

 islands and shoals partly covered with vegetation ; 

 remaining at anchor during the night, and in the day 

 visiting those which wore of most easy access. The 

 rocks were found to be fragmentary, consisting of jiieces 

 of coral, cemented by carbonate of lime, and interspersed 

 with quaitzy sand. On the Cayo Bonito, where they 

 first landed, they o])servcd a layer of sand and broken 

 gjiells five or six inches thick, covering a formation of 

 madrepore. It was shaded by a forest of rhizophorae, 

 intermiyed with euphorbiie, grasses, and other plants, 



Aicliipcmg 

 of the Jar- 

 dincs. 



