LIZARDS AND OTTERS. 
Oil 
lies the almost ruined mission of San Miguel de la Tortuga 
1 he. Indiana assured us that the environs of this little 
mission abound in otters with a very fine fur, called by the 
Portuguese ‘ water-dogs 1 ’ (perritos de agua) ; and what is 
still more remarkable, m lizards (lagartos) with only two feet, 
lhe whole of this country, which is very accessible between 
the Eio Cuchiyero and the strait of Baraguan, is worthy 
of being visited by a well-informed zoologist. The laoartc 
destitute of hinder extremities, is perhaps a species of Siren 
different from the Siren lacertina of Carolina If it were 
a saurian, a real Bimanis (Chirotes, Cuv.), the natives 
would not have compared it to a lizard. Besides the arrau 
turtles, of which I have m a former place given a detailed 
account, an innumerable quantity of land tortoises also 
called morocm, are found on the banks of the Orinoco’ 
between Fruana and Encaramada. During the great heats 
i—V 111 , the 1 t ™ e J of fought, these animals remain 
without taking food, hidden beneath stones, or in the holes 
they have dug. They issue from their shelter and begin 
to eat, only when the humidity of the first rains penetrates 
mto the earth. The terekay, or tajelu turtle which lives 
in fresh water, has the same habits. I have already spoken 
of the summer-sleep of some animals of the tropics As 
the natives know the holes in which the tortoises sleep 
amidst trie dried lands, they get out a great number at once 
by digging fifteen or eighteen inches deep. Father Gili 
says that this operation, which he had seen, is not without 
danger, because serpents often buiy themselves in summer 
with the terekays. 
From the island of Cucuruparu, to the capital of Guiana 
commonly cnl ed Angostura, we were but nine days on 
the water. The distance is somewhat less than ninety- 
five leagues. We seldom slept on shore; but the torment 
of the mosquitos diminished in proportion as we advanced 
We landed on the 8th of June at a farm (Hato de San • 
Eafael del Capuchmo) opposite the mouth of the Eio 
Apure. I obtained some good observations of latitude and 
-O ugil.il de.* Having two months before taken horary angles 
* I had found, on the 4th of April, for the Boca del Rio Apure ("on 
ba " k , 0f o t !’ e P rino ™)’ the latitade 7 ° 36' 30", the longitude 
7 30 ; on the 8th of June I found, for the Hats del Capuchmo (ou 
