154 , MARTIN RATTLER.

keeps well, and is used both for lamps and cooking.
Very few of the millions of eggs that are annually
laid arrive at maturity.

When the young turtles issue forth and run to the
water, there are many enemies watching for them.
Great alligators open their jaws and swallow them by
hundreds; jaguars come out of the forests and feed
upon them; eagles and buzzards and wood ibises are
there, too, to claim their share of the feast; and, if
they are fortunate enough to escape all these, there
are many large and ravenous fishes ready to seize
them in the stream.. It seems a marvel that any
escape at all.

In a few minutes the old trader scraped up about
a hundred eggs, to the immense satisfaction of Martin
and Barney. Then he took a bow and arrow from
the bottom of the montaria and shot a large turtle in
the water, while his companions kindled a fire, in-
tending to dine. Only the nose of the turtle was
visible above water, but the old man was so expert
in the use of the bow that he succeeded in transfixing
the soft part of the animal’s neck with an arrow,
although that part was under water. It was a large
turtle, and very fat and heavy, so that it was with
difficulty the trader lifted it upon his old shoulders and

bore it in triumph to the spot where his companions