第147章

A few months after the excursion just narrated, I accompanied Cardozo in many wanderings on the Solimoens, during which he visited the praias (sand-islands), the turtle pools in the forests, and the by-streams and lakes of the great desert river.

His object was mainly to superintend the business of digging up turtle eggs on the sandbanks, having been elected commandante for the year by the municipal council of Ega, of the "praia real"(royal sand-island) of Shimuni, the one lying nearest to Ega.

There are four of these royal praias within the Ega district (a distance of 150 miles from the town), all of which are visited annually by the Ega people for the purpose of collecting eggs and extracting oil from their yolks Each has its commander, whose business is to make arrangements for securing to every inhabitant an equal chance in the egg harvest by placing sentinels to protect the turtles whilst laying, and so forth.The pregnant turtles descend from the interior pools to the main river in July and August, before the outlets dry up, and then seek in countless swarms their favourite sand islands; for it is only a few praias that are selected by them out of the great number existing.The young animals remain in the pools throughout the dry season.

These breeding places of turtles then lie twenty to thirty or more feet above the level of the river, and are accessible only by cutting roads through the dense forest.

We left Ega on our first trip to visit the sentinels while the turtles were yet laying, on the 26th of September.Our canoe was a stoutly built igarite, arranged for ten paddlers, and having a large arched toldo at the stern under which three persons could sleep pretty comfortably.Emerging from the Teffe we descended rapidly on the swift current of the Solimoens to the south-eastern or lower end of the large wooded island of Baria, which here divides the river into two great channels.We then paddled across to Shimuni, which lies in the middle of the northeasterly channel, reaching the commencement of the praia an hour before sunset.The island proper is about three miles long and half a mile broad: the forest with which it is covered rises to an immense and uniform height, and presents all round a compact, impervious front.Here and there a singular tree, called Pao mulatto (mulatto wood), with polished dark-green trunk, rose conspicuously among the mass of vegetation.The sandbank, which lies at the upper end of the island, extends several miles and presents an irregular, and in some parts, strongly-waved surface, with deep hollows and ridges.When upon it, one feels as though treading an almost boundless field of sand, for towards the southeast, where no forest line terminates the view, the white, rolling plain stretches away to the horizon.The north-easterly channel of the river lying between the sands and the further shore of the river is at least two miles in breadth; the middle one, between the two islands, Shimuni and Baria, is not much less than a mile.

We found the two sentinels lodged in a corner of the praia, where it commences at the foot of the towering forest wall of the island, having built for themselves a little rancho with poles and palm-leaves.Great precautions are obliged to be taken to avoid disturbing the sensitive turtles, who, previous to crawling ashore to lay, assemble in great shoals off the sandbank.The men, during this time, take care not to show themselves and warn off any fishermen who wishes to pass near the place.Their fires are made in a deep hollow near the borders of the forest, so that the smoke may not be visible.The passage of a boat through the shallow waters where the animals are congregated, or the sight of a man or a fire on the sandbank, would prevent the turtles from leaving the water that night to lay their eggs, and if the causes of alarm were repeated once or twice, they would forsake the praia for some other quieter place.Soon after we arrived, our men were sent with the net to catch a supply of fish for supper.

In half an hour, four or five large basketsful of Acari were brought in.The sun set soon after our meal was cooked; we were then obliged to extinguish the fire and remove our supper materials to the sleeping ground, a spit of sand about a mile off-- this course being necessary on account of the mosquitoes which swarm at night on the borders of the forest.

One of the sentinels was a taciturn, morose-looking, but sober and honest Indian, named Daniel; the other was a noted character of Ega, a little wiry Mameluco, named Carepira (Fish-hawk)--known for his waggery, propensity for strong drink, and indebtedness to Ega traders.Both were intrepid canoemen and huntsmen, and both perfectly at home anywhere in these fearful wastes of forest and water.Carepira had his son with him-- a quiet little lad of about nine years of age.These men in a few minutes constructed a small shed with four upright poles and leaves of the arrow-grass, under which Cardozo and I slung our hammocks.We did not go to sleep, however, until after midnight--for when supper was over, we lay about on the sand with a flask of rum in our midst and whiled away the still hours in listening to Carepira's stories.