404 EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA 



tween the forest and the sand-bank. The sands are 

 heaped up very curiously around the margins of these 

 isolated sheets of water ; in the present case they formed 

 a steeply-inclined bank, from five to eight feet in height. 

 What may be the cause of this formation I cannot imagine. 

 The pools always contain a quantity of imprisoned fish, 

 turtles, tracajas, and Aiyussas^. The turtles and 

 Aiyussas crawl out voluntarily in the course of a few days, 

 and escape to the main river, but the Tracajas remain and 

 become an easy prey to the natives. The ordinary mode 

 of obtaining them is to whip the water in every part with 

 rods for several hours during the day ; this treatment 

 having the effect of driving the animals out. They wait, 

 however, until the night following the beating before 

 making their exit. Our Indians were occupied for many 

 hours in this work, and when night came they and the 

 sentinels were placed at intervals along the edge of the 

 water to be ready to capture the runaways. Cardozo 

 and I, after supper, went and took our station at one end 

 of the pool. 



We did not succeed, after all our trouble, in getting 

 m.any Tracajas. This was partly owing to the intense dark- 

 ness of the night, and partly, doubtless, to the sentinels 

 having already nearly exhausted the pool, notwithstand- 

 ing their declarations to the contrary. In waiting for 

 the animals it was necessary to keep silence : not a 

 pleasant way of passing the night ; speaking only in 

 whispers, and being without fire in a place liable to be 

 visited by a prowling jaguar. Cardozo and I sat on a 

 sandy slope with our loaded guns by our side, but it was 

 so dark we could scarcely see each other. Towards mid- 

 night a storm began to gather around us. The faint wind 

 which had breathed from over the water since the sun 

 went down, ceased ; thick clouds piled themselves up, 

 until every star was obscured, and gleams of watery 

 lightning began to play in the midst of the black masses. 

 I hinted to Cardozo that I thought we had now had enough 

 of watching, and suggested a cigarette. Just then a 

 quick pattering movement was heard on the sands, and 

 grasping our guns, we both started to our feet. What- 

 ever it might have been it seemed to pass by, and a few 



^ Specimens of this species of turtle are named in the British 

 Museum collection, Podocnemis expansa. 



