3594 Some Account of the Country 



Birds, loo, are not at all obtrusively abundant: small flocks of a green 

 paroquet are seen almost every day ; but the larger parrots and ma- 

 caws are rare. 



The waters teem more with animal life than the forests. Three spe- 

 cies of aquatic Chelonians are in abundance. In the season of high 

 water they retire to the remote creeks, pools, and lakes, which are hid- 

 den in the depths of the forest. In the month of July, when the wa- 

 ters are falling rapidly, the adult animals leave their retreats, for the 

 purpose of depositing their eggs in the sands on the main river. This 

 is called the migration of the turtles, and is a thing well understood 

 by the inhabitants. The young turtles remain in the inland pools ; 

 as the waters fall, the channels connecting these pools with the main 

 river dry up, and they remain throughout the dry season imprisoned 

 in these solitary places, in water almost tepid, where they feed and 

 fatten on the mud, and the fruits that fall from the surrounding trees. 

 Although three species of turtle only occur in numbers, there are many 

 species of the family inhabiting the country, some of them of extremely 

 rare occurrence. The large turtle, when full grown, is 4 feet long; it 

 deposits its eggs in the sand, to the number of 120, in the month of 

 September. From the eggs the inhabitants manufacture oil, and the 

 flesh is excellent food. Every family in Ega has its pond of turtles 

 in the gardens attached to the houses, where a stock is kept nearly all 

 the year round. The Tracaja is only about half the size of the tur- 

 tle ; the eggs are one half smaller than those of the large turtle, and 

 are not used to any extent in the manufacture of oil. At the begin- 

 ning of the dry season, the inhabitants capture great quantities of Tra- 

 caja. The turtle no one is allowed to disturb on the sand-banks, as 

 the whole river is placed under regulations every year by the authori- 

 ties in the towns, in order to provide for the safe deposit of the eggs, 

 and thus secure equal benefit to all the inhabitants who choose to 

 manufacture oil. The Tracajas are under no such protection, and 

 great is the havoc annually made amongst them. Whole families of 

 women and children go out to the sand-banks shortly after sunset and 

 turn over the animals as they issue from the water to deposit their 

 eggs. The third species mentioned as abundant, is the Aiyussa or 

 Pityu. It is about a foot long when full grown, and readily recognized 

 by a short carinated elevation on the dorsal line of its shell. It de- 

 posits its eggs about a month before the large turtle, so that at the 

 time when the people are on the sands excavating the eggs of the lat- 

 ter, the young of the former are hatched, and are taken by basketfuls 

 early in the morning. It is curious to watch the little animals, as I 



