"You shall judge presently, Señor. The cacique was sending out the order for the people to collect when I left. No one may touch the eggs till he grants permission." They found the Indian village overflowing with detachments of new arrivals. De Bonelli was introduced to the cacique, who was so overjoyed by the present of a silver-mounted pistol that he was ready to place the whole town and its resources at his visitor's feet. "Pray stay among us as long as you will," he said. "Our egg-taking begins to-morrow and will last for about a week; but, after that, I and my tribe will be at your service, and I can promise you better hunting than you have seen with the gloomy Aymaras." The noise in and around the village aroused the traveller at an early hour in the morning, and he strolled out from his tent to survey the neighbourhood. Since the previous night the village had swelled to four times its size; for on every side pyramidal tents had been erected by the simple process of sticking three poles in the ground, sloping so that the tops met, and covering the spaces between the poles with mats made of grass or palm-leaves. The cacique was already at breakfast, which he begged his guest to share; and, when it was finished, he said: "You will do me the favour to ride in my canoe. Then you will be able to see all my people at once." They proceeded to the water-edge and found all the tribe--nearly two hundred men with their wives and children--seated in canoes and impatiently awaiting their chief's arrival as the signal to start. The moment he and his guest were embarked, a great shout went up and paddling began with a will, the canoes moving at such a rate that the journey to the "turtle-ground," five miles away, seemed to occupy no time. Arrived here the chief's paddlers drew in and he and de Bonelli landed, the tribe following in due order of importance. As an amateur naturalist the chargé d'affaires knew something of the habits of the turtle, but he was not prepared for many things which he saw that day. Turtles seldom lay their eggs immediately by the water; as often as not they choose a place half a mile or more away from it. In this case the row of "nests" took the form of a long sand-bank which lay between two fringes of trees, and this, the traveller learned, had been stealthily and jealously watched by spies from the village for some weeks past, so that there could be no mistaking the spot. Behind the cacique walked a man with a drum, and, as soon as the bank was reached, a short "call" was beaten and all the men, every one carrying a paddle, collected round him. The chief made a short speech, enjoining patience, industry, and good temper, and then began to portion off the bank among the men, each family thus being entitled to whatever they might find in their patch.