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[[underlined]] April 18, 1941. Friday. [[/underlined]] Forenoon: Accompanied digging parties to rise of ground between lagoons; under shadow of and beside red rocks. Captain and one of sailors assisting helped with getting land shells. Captain also got a centipede.  A great many snakes were flushed among rocks, grass, and brush, but sailors were a little leary about grabbing them.  If anything, the officers were more shy than sailors but, inhibitions notwithstanding, in the couple of days at James the crew got me two striped snakes, fine, large, and well fed appearing specimens.  A lot of digging was done, on [[strikethrough]]sig[[/strikethrough]] site Callaghan had started to escavate.  Under the "red" rocks standing up in isthmus between the lagoons seemed to me a most likely place, but the rock had so [[strikethrough]]dis in[[/strikethrough]] disintegrated that much of what must have been a formidable peak (obelisk) had tumbled down.  One piece almost as large as the one standing lies at its base.  As the thing looks to me--in the 128 years intervening enough disintegration of the red rock has taken place to furnish not the huge masses that one deposited about the remaining pinnacle and many others of various lesser sizes, but also a lot granular soil 6 to 8 feet deep (perhaps) in places so that all traces of the grave, if any, have become wholly obliterated or at least covered up. All other ideas notwistanding, under the pinnacles between the lagoons seems the logical and best naturally marked (prominent) place for a memorable site.

By the way, the lagoons were full (very full) of water, and the northern (I would say eastern) one is very large, wide, and much too deep to wade, than when I was here in '38; then it was knee deep all the way across and, moroever, was divided into two by a sand arm.  This all now explains the complete absence of flamingos to me, the water is much too deep for the birds to feed on the bottom, as is their wont; and also nesting sites (if any here) favored by them were inundated.  Wonder how nesting season compares to dry or rainy season?