The giant-toad (_Bufo gigas_, _agua_) frequents the Brazilian campos in such numbers that in the evening or after a shower of rain, when they come forth from their hiding-places to regale on the damp and murky atmosphere, the earth seems literally to swarm with them. They are double the size of our common toad, and are even said to attain, with their outstretched hind legs, a foot’s length, with a proportionate girth. Covered with unsightly warts, and of a dull grey colour, their aspect is repulsive, and when excited, they eject a liquid which is very much feared by the natives. Their voice is loud and disagreeable; while Guinea possesses, in the _Breviceps gibbosus_, a small toad which is said to sing delightfully, ‘charming the swamps with its melodious note.’ A Brazilian tree-frog, (_Hyla crepitans_) which adheres to the large leaves, not merely with its widened toes, but with its constantly viscid body, has a voice which sounds like the cracking of a large piece of wood, and generally proceeds from many throats at a time. On wandering through the forests of Brazil, Prince Maximilian of Neu Wied was often surprised by this singular concert issuing from the dark shades of the forest. A Surinam tree-frog (_Hyla micans_) has the singular property of secreting a luminous slime, so as to look in the dark like a yellowish will-o’-the-wisp. Its voice is most disagreeable, and is said at times completely to overpower the orchestra of the theatre in Paramaribo, thus emulating the stentorian achievements of the Virginian bull-frog. CHAPTER XXV. TORTOISES AND TURTLES. The Galapagos--The Elephantine Tortoise--The Marsh-Tortoises-- Mantega--River-Tortoises--Marine-Turtles--On the Brazilian Coast-- Their Numerous Enemies--The Island of Ascension--Turtle-Catching at the Bahama and Keeling Islands--Turtle caught by means of the Sucking-Fish--The Green Turtle--The Hawksbill Turtle-- Turtle Scaling in the Feejee Islands--Barbarous mode of selling Turtle-flesh in Ceylon--The Coriaceous Turtle--Its awful Shrieks. In the South Sea, exposed to the vertical beams of the equatorial sun, lies a large group of uninhabited islands, on whose sterile shores you would look in vain for the palms, bananas, or bread-fruit trees of more favoured lands, as rain falls only upon the heights, and never descends to call forth plenty on the arid coasts. [Illustration: AMBLYRHYNE.]