TURTLE-FISHING. 305 
The marshes are infested by two species of crocodile, 
one of which has an elongated snout, and is very fe- 
rocious. The back is dark-green, the belly white, 
and the flanks are covered with yellow spots. 
On the 9th of March our travellers again set sail 
in a small sloop, and proceeded through the gulf of 
Batabano, 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 seme 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 sustained. At sunset they 
anchored near the pass of Don Cristoval, which was 
entirely deserted, although in the time of Columbus 
it was possessed by fishermen. The inhabitants of 
Cuba then employed a singular method for procur- 
ing turtles ; they fastened a long cord to the tail of 
a species of echinezs 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. The same ar- 
tifice is resorted to by the natives of certain parts of 
the African coast. 
They were three days on their passage through 
the Archipelago of the Jardines and Jardinillos, 
small islands and shoals partly covered with vegeta- 
tion ; remaining at anchor during the night, and in 
the day visiting those which were of most easy access. 
The rocks were found to be fragmentary, consisting 
of pieces of coral, cemented by carbonate of lime, 
and interspersed with quartzy sand. On the Cayo 
Bonito, where they first landed, they observed a 
T 
