292 
EXCUESIOKS AROUND EGA. 
Chap. IV. 
strung them together through the gills with slender 
sipos, and hung 'them on the trees to await our return 
later in the day. 
Leaving the bed of the creek, we marched onwards, 
always towards the centre of the land ; guided by the 
sun, which now glimmered through the thick foliage 
overhead. About eleven o'clock we saw a break in the 
forest before us, and presently emerged on the banks 
of a considerable sheet of water. This was one of the 
interior pools of which there are so many in this district. 
The margins were elevated some few feet, and sloped 
down to the water, the ground being hard and dry to 
the water's edge, and covered with shrubby vegetation. 
We passed completely round this pool, finding the 
crowns of the trees on its borders tenanted by curassow 
birds, whose presence was betrayed as usual by the pe- 
culiar note which they emit. My companions shot two 
of them. At the farther end of the lake lay a deep 
watercourse, which we traced for about half a mile, and 
found to communicate with another and smaller pool. • 
This second one evidently swarmed with turtles, as we 
saw the snouts of many peering above the surface of the 
water : the same had not been seen in the larger lake, 
probably because we had made too much noise in hail- 
ing our discovery, on approaching its banks. My friends 
made an arrangement on the spot for returning to this 
pool, after the termination of the egg harvest on Catua. 
In recrossing the space between the two pools, we 
heard the crash of monkeys in the crowns of trees over- 
head. The chace of these occupied us a considerable 
time. Jose fired at length at one of the laggards of the 
