He had come with his people, from some place in the
interior, to the harvest of eggs. The turtles, he said, had already
begun laying them; and his people proposed digging them up the following
morning, when they would supply us with as many as we required. We
accordingly agreed to remain till then.

The padre seemed a jovial old gentleman, though he complained of his
solitary life. He had got his Indians under tolerable subjection, but
he appeared to me to have advanced them very slightly in the scale of
civilisation; while their religion consisted chiefly in crossing
themselves, and bowing to the crucifix which he held up when he
performed mass. However, as Padre Pacheco observed, they had given up
some of their worst customs, and that was something.

Padre Bobo gave us much information about the habits of these turtles.
They invariably lay their eggs during the night. In the evening they
may be seen with their heads above water, eager for the moment of the
sun's setting; then, directly it is dark, they land and commence
operations. The animal first digs a hole, three feet in diameter and
four in depth, with its hind feet, which are very long, and furnished
with crooked claws. So anxious is it to lay its eggs that it often
descends into a hole that has been dug by another, still uncovered with
sand, where it deposits a new layer of eggs on that which has been
recently laid. Numbers of eggs are thus broken. All night long they
continue working on the beach, and daylight often surprises many of them
before the laying of their eggs is terminated. They now labour with
double eagerness, having not only to deposit their eggs, but to close
the holes they have dug, that they may not be perceived by the jaguars
which are sure to be waiting in the neighbourhood; and many on these
occasions are captured.

The padre gave us an ample supper, consisting of turtle dressed in a
variety of ways, and several wild fruits, washed down with some of the
doctor's aguadiente, which had been brought up from the canoe. He then
produced a bundle of tobacco, with some long pipes, for those who
smoked; after which he brought out an exceedingly greasy pack of cards,
and invited us to join him in a game, observing that he was rarely
visited by white gentlemen with whom he could enjoy that pleasure. As I
nearly fell asleep during the game, I have not the slightest
recollection of what it was; indeed, having a dislike to cards, I was
ut