There is another kind of lizard here, much smaller, with bright red heads and dull gray bodies. These animals and birds and sea lions have seen so few people that they are not afraid at all and we went right up very close to many of them. As it is right on the Equator the sun’s glare is very bright and so hot that for the first few days all of us were very badly sunburned and blistered; everybody was going around with sore shoulders and blistered legs and two or three even had their entire backs burned and sore. The first night here Bill Merriam and Dr. Cady went ashore and caught a big female turtle that was going up the beach maybe to lay her eggs. Sea turtles come ashore, go way up a beach and bury their eggs in the dry sand. They leave them there till it is time for them to hatch. We saw many deep holes in the sand from which piles of eggs had hatched. They lay hundreds of eggs. When we were there the egg season was over. All we saw were shells. TOWER ISLAND Tower Island was our second landing. Early in the morning we had sighted a low strip of green, and by the time breakfast was over at half past seven we were already in the most protected little cove or harbor. It was almost closed to the outside ocean and was calm without any surf or big waves. At first when we came in we couldn’t see any beach for landing on or swimming, but pretty soon we saw one, a beautiful one hidden behind a small reef. When we entered the harbor birds came and rested on the mast heads. Many of them stayed there or came back to it on and off all day. The whole rigging was full of boobies and frigate birds. We saw three great rays too, at least fifteen feet across. Later on we caught a huge ray. They seem to fly under the water just below the surface. Every once in a while they flip themselves right out of the water and turn a complete somersault. Sometimes they do this three times in succession. One of the biggest ones we struck with our bow and neatly turned it over. When we landed on the little beach we saw many of these frigate birds on their nests, boobies, gulls, and the cutest little doves. They seemed so tame. They were always fighting for each other’s twigs in their nests and as soon as a bird left her nest another bird came and stole a twig and flew away with it. I lifted a frigate bird right off his nest, and then put him back and he never seemed to mind at all, just looked surprised. About the next time I picked up a frigate bird, I wasn’t quite so lucky. I wanted to lift him up to have a picture taken and he didn’t seem to like posing much more than I did. Anyway, he pecked me and I suppose that’s why I look so cross in the picture. They have big strong bills and this one got hold right in the lower part of my left leg. All the time, I was barelegged and wore shorts, which is the way everybody aboard dressed.