MARTIN RATTLER. 153

boat, which he nearly upset as he leaped into it, and
pushed out into the stream. On reaching the middle of
the river they looked back, but the anaconda was gone.

Soon after this they came to a long sand-bank,
where the old trader said they should find as many
turtles’ eggs as they wished for, although to Barney
and Martin there seemed to be nothing on the bank at
all. The fresh-water turtle of the Amazon, of which
there are various species, is one of the most useful of
reptiles. Its flesh supplies abundance of good food ;
and the eggs, besides being eaten, afford an excellent
oil. The largest species grow to the length of three
feet, and have a flattish oval shell of a dark colour,
and quite smooth. Turtles lay their eggs about
the beginning of September, when the sand-banks
begin to be uncovered. They scrape deep holes for
them, and cover them carefully over, beating down
the sand quite flat, and walking across the place
several times, for the purpose of concealment. The
egos are then left to be hatched by the heat of the
sun. But, alas for the poor turtles! men are too
clever for them. The eggs are collected by the
natives in thousands, and, when oil is to be made of
them, they are thrown into a canoe, smashed and
mixed up together, and left to stand, when the oil

rises to the top, and is skimmed off and boiled. It