During the Brazilian summer (December, January, February), colossal turtles are seen everywhere swimming about along the coast, raising their thick round heads above the water, and waiting for the approach of night to land. The neighbouring Indians are their bitterest enemies, killing them whenever they can. Thus these dreary sand coasts, bounded on one side by the ocean and on the other by gloomy primæval forests, offer on all sides pictures of destruction, for the bones and shells of slaughtered turtles everywhere bestrew the ground. Two parallel grooves indicate the path of the turtle after landing; they are the marks of the four large and long fin-shaped feet or paddles, and between them may be seen a broad furrow where the heavy body trailed along the ground. On following these traces about thirty or forty yards shore-upwards, the huge animal may be found sitting in a flat excavation formed by its circular movements, and in which one half of its body is imbedded. It allows itself to be handled on all sides without making the least attempt to move away, being probably taught by instinct how useless all endeavours to escape would be. A blowing or snorting like that of a goose when any one approaches its nest, at the same time inflating its neck a little, are the sole signs of defence which it exhibits. On the small islands of Talong, on the coast of Borneo, Mr. Brooke had an opportunity of seeing a turtle deposit its eggs. When on the sand it wandered from place to place, and tried several by digging a little, apparently rejecting them as unfit. At length, having made its choice, it buried its nose, and began scooping the sand with its hinder feet in a most deliberate and easy manner, throwing the sand to a considerable distance. It often stopped in its work and recommenced, and so dug till the body was pretty well buried, and the hole a depth of three or more feet. It then took its station over the hole and began to lay its eggs, which it did at intervals for a length of time, to the number of two hundred and thirty, and all the while was perfectly indifferent to the proximity of numerous spectators. Having deposited the eggs, it filled the hole with its hinder fins, and beat down the sand both on the spot and all around, and then retired, not _directly_ (for the track would have been a guide to the nest), but in numerous tortuous courses, round and round, and finally took its departure for the sea at a point distant from its eggs. The Malays on watch have small sticks with flags on them, and as each turtle deposits its eggs they mark the spot with one of these, and the following morning take the eggs. With all their vigilance, however, numbers escape their observation, and some nests they purposely spare.