FRESH-WATER SHARKS. 237 



was climbing over the top of the ramacla 

 when he lost his balance and fell overboard. 



My crew consisted of a respectable-looking 

 patron and ten Indians, all dressed in white 

 trowsers, white shirts, and red sashes ; but 

 after we had started and pulled up to the 

 northern or weather shore, to avoid the heavy 

 sea, all the rowers, but not the patron, 

 stripped themselves perfectly naked, and re- 

 mained so day and night until about a mile 

 before our arrival at the sea-coast, when 

 they again put on the trowsers and shirts. 

 They had each a heavy poncho, which they 

 put over them during the night, but never 

 during the heavy showers that only come in 

 the afternoon. On the south side of the 

 lake there are two large towns, and some 

 small villages, but on the north side there 

 is not a hut or cabin ; it is quite uninhabited 

 and savage. 



I here, for the first time, saw a great many 

 fresh-water sharks, called by the same name 

 as the sea-shark, " tiburon." They are very 

 large, for they have never been molested, 

 and are much dreaded by the boatmen ; and 

 one day that I was sitting in the boat, while 

 the men were cooking their dinner on shore, 

 I saw six or seven, with their back-fins well 



