RoTH] ANIMAL FOOD 205 
would glance off the smooth flat shell, so he shoots up into the air with 
such accurate judgment that the arrow falls nearly vertically upon 
the shell, which it penetrates, and remains securely fixed in the tur- 
tle’s back. The head of the arrow comes off its light shaft, to which 
it is attached by line, and the shaft floats on the surface, etc. (ARW, 
324). This shooting of the arrow into the air, practiced also in the 
Guianas, is mentioned in some of the Indian legends (WER, v1, 
sees. 30, 145, 330). Gumilla has recorded how, on the Orinoco, the 
Otomae will dive after a turtle in the water, turn it over, and, sup- 
porting it with one hand, will bring it to the bank with the other 
hand and his feet (G,1, 180). A similar statement is made by Bates 
from the lower Amazon. It is said that the Muras dive after turtles, 
and succeed in catching them by the legs (HWB, 168). In addition, 
turtles on reaching shore may be sneaked upon by the hunters. Thus, 
on the Essequibo, if the Indians wish to catch the creature itself, they 
bury themselves in the sand at a considerable distance from the water, 
and when it is nearest they suddenly arise and give it chase. When 
they have overtaken it they turn it up, and, fastening two sticks in 
the apertures of the head and hind parts, leave it there until morning 
(BE,168). Humboldt records the following: Jaguars .. . follow 
the arraus (large fresh-water turtle) toward those places on the beach 
where the eggs are laid. They surprise the arraus on the sand, and 
in order to devour them at their ease, turn them in such a manner 
that the undershell is uppermost. In this situation the turtles can 
not rise, and as the jaguar turns many more than he can eat in one 
night, the Indians often avail themselves of his cunning and avidity 
(AVH, 11, 192). An unusual method of capturing tortoise with dogs 
is mentioned from the upper Rupununi at Annai village, where 
B. Brown speaks of being shown a pen or crawl full of tortoises, 
all of which had been procured by the aid of a small black and white 
dog belonging to an Indian. This dog, when taken into the forest, set 
to work to search by scent for tortoises, and as they are very numer- 
ous it would trace out numbers of them in a day, thus keeping its 
master well supplied with these animals (BB, 146). Indications on 
the surface sand will lead the Indian to the underground nests, but 
these are not seldom found to be already robbed of their eggs by the 
jaguar and certain hawks. 
216. Schomburgk describes how, even when the river current often 
carried him and his crew with the greatest swiftness, his Carib 
seldom missed their aim with bow and arrow at the poor iguana 
(Iguana delicatissima) feeding on the leaves of some favorite tree 
or lurking for insects (ScG, 273). On the Cuyuni, Brown says that 
his men and the Indians had a most cruel way of preventing cap- 
tured iguanas from escaping by slitting down the side of two fore 
