152 



REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



they were with difficulty obtained for eight or nine shillings each. 

 Their abundance varies with the amount of diurnal subsidence of 

 the waters. When the river sinks less than the average, they are 

 scarce ; but when high waters have prevailed, they are numerous, 

 their haunts being less restricted, and appropriate breeding-places 

 more easily found. 



Fig- 37.— Egyptian River Turtle. 



" Their flesh is very tender, palatable, and wholesome ; but it is 

 cloying, and every one ends sooner or later by becoming thoroughly 

 surfeited. I became so sick of turtle in the course of two years that 

 I could not bear their smell, although nothing else was to be had ; 

 consequently I suffered from actual hunger." 



One of the most amusing sketches in Mr. Bates's book is a journey 

 he made on the Solimoens, during which he visited the praias, or 



