4IO EXCURSIONS AROUND EGA 



the discovery that the pool abounded in ugly, red, four- 

 angled leeches, having seen several of these delectable 

 animals, which sometimes fasten on the legs of fishermen^ 

 although they did not, on this day, trouble us, working their 

 way through cracks in the bottom of our montaria. 

 Cardozo, who remained with the boats, could not turn 

 the animals on their backs fast enough, so that a great 

 many clambered out and got free again. However, three 

 boatloads, or about eighty, were secured in about twenty 

 minutes. They were then taken ashore, and each one 

 secured by the men tying the legs with thongs of bast. 



When the canoes had been twice filled, we desisted, 

 after a very hard day's work. Nearly all the animals 

 were young ones, chiefly, according to the statement of 

 Pedro, from three to ten years of age ; they varied from 

 six to eighteen inches in length, and were very fat. Car- 

 dozo and I lived almost exclusively on them for several 

 months afterwards. Roasted in the shell they form a 

 most appetising dish. These younger turtles never 

 migrate with their elders on the sinking of the waters, but 

 remain in the tepid pools, fattening on fallen fruits, and, 

 according to the natives, on the fine nutritious mud. We 

 captured a few full-grown mother-turtles, which were 

 known at once by the horny skin of their breast-plates 

 being worn, telling of their having crawled on the sands 

 to lay eggs the previous year. They had evidently made 

 a mistake in not leaving the pool at the proper time, for 

 they were full of eggs, which, we were told, they would, 

 before the season was over, scatter in despair over the 

 swamp. We also found several male turtles, or Capitaris, 

 as they are called by the natives. These are immensely 

 less numerous than the females, and are distinguishable 

 by their much smaller size, more circular shape, and the 

 greater length and thickness of their tails. Their flesh is 

 considered unwholesome, especially to sick people having 

 external signs of inflammation. All diseases in these 

 parts, as well as their remedies and all articles of food, are 

 classed by the inhabitants as ' hot ' and ' cold and the 

 meat of the Capitari is settled by unanimous consent as 

 belonging to the ' hot ' list. 



We dined on the banks of the river, a little before sun- 

 set. The mosquitoes then began to be troublesome, and 

 finding it would be impossible to sleep here, we all em- 

 barked and crossed the river to a sand-bank, about three 



