Chapter 47 Summary

Young Jack, the boy who tried to write a travel journal earlier in the book, is seen scorching in the hot sun scowling at a turtle. He is ready to kill the thing when the men stop him and ask him what's wrong. After much prodding he says that the preachers on board the ship told him that, in this land, a turtle would sing. He stared at this turtle for an hour and it didn't so much as squeak. He is angry at the turtle for being a fraud and wants to kill him for it.

The travelers come across the pit where Joseph was thrown by his brothers in the Bible. Twain does not know if it is the same pit, but since legend says it is, there ought to be a belief that it is. If it is not the...