MAKING TURTLE BUTTER. 137 



gathering of the eggs was conducted in a uniform man- 

 ner, and with that regularity which characterizes all mon- 

 astic institutions. Before the arrival of the missionaries 

 on the banks of the river, the Indians profited much less 

 from a production which nature has supplied in such 

 abundance. Every tribe searched the beach in its own 

 way, and an immense number of eggs were uselessly 

 broken, because they were not dug up with precaution, 

 and more eggs were uncovered than could be carried 

 away. It was hke a mine worked by unskilful hands. 



When the camp was formed, the missionary of Uruana 

 named his lieutenant, or commissary, who divided the 

 ground where the eggs were found into different por- 

 tions, according to the number of the Indian tribes who 

 took part in the gathering. The lieutenant began his 

 operations by sounding. He examined by means of a 

 long wooden pole or cane of bamboo, how far the stratum 

 of eggs extended. This stratum, according to the mea- 

 surements of Humboldt, extended to the distance of one 

 hundred and twenty feet from the shore. Its average 

 depth was three feet. The lieutenant placed marks to 

 indicate the point where each tribe should stop its labours. 

 The Indians removed the earth with their hands ; they 

 placed the eggs they had collected in small baskets, 

 carried them to their encampment, and threw them into 

 long troughs of wood filled with water. In these troughs 

 the eggs, broken and stirred with shovels, remained ex- 

 posed to the sun till the oily part, which swam on the 

 surface, had time to inspissate. As fast as this collected 

 on the surface of the water, it was taken off and boiled 

 over a quick fire. This animal oil, called turtle butter, 

 kept the better in proportion as it had undergone a strong 



