SHOOTING BATS AND IGUANAS.—VISITING THE HOT SPRINGS.
There were two boats to-day instead of three, and the course was laid for an island three or four miles away. On the way thither their host intimated that they were to have a kind of sport they had never seen in America, and perhaps had never heard of. It might be a disappointment, as it did not require much skill, but in any event it would be a novelty. "Wait till we get there," said he, "and then you will know what it is.
"If we have time," he continued, "I will show you a very curious place called the Lake of Socolme."
"Is it beyond this lake?" one of the boys asked, as he glanced around, and concluded that the question of time was very doubtful.
"No, it is in this lake," was the reply, "or rather it is in an island of the lake. Socolme is an island about three miles in circumference, and is supposed to be the top of an extinct volcano with a lake or pond in its crater. The island is two or three hundred feet high, and the pond is in the centre of it, and at a higher elevation than the great lake. The pond has been sounded and found to be three hundred feet in depth, while there are not more than seventy-five feet of water in any part of the lake.
"The curious thing about Socolme is the vast numbers of crocodiles that inhabit it. They are so numerous, and so dangerous, that the Indians will not go there alone, and it is with the greatest difficulty that we can persuade them to accompany us when we make an excursion there. Sometimes hundreds of these reptiles are visible, and they are of the largest size; what it is that keeps them there I cannot say, but presume they find something specially attractive in the depth of the water.
"The birds have found that the Indians do not molest them on Socolme, and so they go there to lay their eggs. Every tree on the shores of the little lake is white with guano, and the limbs are crowded with nests which are filled with eggs and birds during the breeding season.
"On the shore opposite Socolme there are several springs of hot water, and the place is generally known as 'Los Banos,' or 'The Baths.' There are plenty of wild pigeons there, and any one who is fond of shooting pigeons can have all the sport he wants.
"A few miles farther to the east is a sand-bank, where the turtles go to lay their eggs; unfortunately it is not the season for them now, or I would take you there. The turtles come up in the night to deposit their eggs, and return to the water before sunrise, so that when the natives want any of the turtles they must hunt them by moonlight; but the eggs are a different matter, and when the Indians know where they are, they can find them at their leisure."