We Were About A Hundred Paces Distant From The Margin
Of The River; Late In The Evening I Took My Rod, And Fished In
The Deep Bend Beneath A Cliff Of Conglomerate Pebbles.
I caught
only one fish, a baggar, about twelve pounds, but I landed three
large turtles; these creatures were most determined in taking the
bait; they varied in size from fifty to about ninety pounds, and
were the same species as that which inhabits the Nile (Trionis
Nilotica).
From one of them we took upwards of a hundred eggs
which we converted into omelettes, but they were rather strong in
flavour.
Although this species of turtle is unprepossessing in appearance,
having a head very like that of a snake, with a dark green shell
spotted with yellow, it produces excellent soup; the body is
exceedingly flat, and the projecting edges of the shell are soft;
it runs extremely fast upon the shore, and is suggestive of the
tortoise that beat the hare in the well-known race. Throughout
the Nile and its tributaries there are varieties of fish and
reptiles closely connected, and the link can be distinctly traced
in the progression of development. There is a fish with a hard
bony frame, or shell, that includes the head, and extends over
more than half the body; this has two long and moveable spikes
beneath the fore fins, upon which it can raise itself as upon
legs when upon the land; when first caught, this fish makes a
noise something like the mewing of a cat:
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