reality as those creatures which the wild imaginations of the painters
of bygone days delighted in producing. How can I describe it? It was
covered all over with armour--back, neck, and head. On its head it wore
a curiously-shaped helmet, with a long tube in front serving as a snout,
while its feet were webbed, and armed with sharp claws at the end of its
thick and powerful legs. From the chin hung two fringe-like membranes,
and the throat and neck were similarly ornamented. Naro was not far
off, and came paddling up at a great rate, crying out to us to turn the
creature from the water. Its formidable appearance and size made us
somewhat unwilling to get within reach of its head; for it was fully
three feet long, and its covering would, it appeared, turn off a bullet.
Arthur, however, bravely ran in front of it, and True kept barking
round it, keeping wisely beyond its reach. We thus impeded its
progress; but still it made way, and was just about to launch itself
into the river when the canoe coming up, Naro's harpoon, struck it under
the shield at the neck. It struggled to get free, but was hauled again
on to the sand, and soon dispatched by the Indians. They seemed highly
pleased at the capture, and signified that, in spite of its strange
appearance, it was excellent for food.

"Why, after all, it is only a tortoise!" exclaimed Arthur, who had been
examining it. A tortoise it was, though the strangest-looking of its
tribe, but not at all uncommon.

The strange creature we had found was a matamata (_Chelys matamata_).
It is found plentifully in Demerara, where its flesh is much esteemed.
What we took to be a helmet, consisted of two membraneous prolongations
of the skin, which projected out on either side from its broad and
flattened head. The back was covered with a shield, with three distinct
ridges or keels along it, and was broader before than behind. It had a
stumpy pointed tail. I should add that it feeds only in the water,
concealing itself among reeds by the bank, when it darts forward its
long neck and seizes with its sharp beak any passing fish, reptile, or
water-fowl--for it likes a variety of food--or it will swim after them
at a great rate.

We carried the matamata to the camp, and on landing it drew it up with
sipos, with its neck stretched out. Ellen could scarcely believe that
it was a real creature.

"I am very glad that I did not meet it when by myself on the sands. I
am sure that