Chap. III. TURTLES. 213 



ing : every one ends, sooner or later, by becoming 

 thoroughly surfeited. I became so sick of turtle in the 

 course of two years that I could not bear the smell of 

 it, although at the same time nothing else was to be 

 had, and I was suffering actual hunger. The native 

 women cook it in various ways. The entrails are 

 chopped up and made into a delicious soup called sara- 

 patel, which is generally boiled in the concave upper 

 shell of the animal used as a kettle. The tender flesh 

 of the breast is partially minced with farinha, and the 

 breast shell then roasted over the fire, making a very 

 pleasant dish. Steaks cut from the breast and cooked 

 with the fat form another palatable dish. Large sausages 

 are made of the thick-coated stomach, which is filled 

 with minced meat and boiled. The quarters cooked in 

 a kettle of Tucupi sauce form another variety of food. 

 When surfeited with turtle in all other shapes, pieces of 

 the lean part roasted on a spit and moistened only with 

 vinegar make an agreeable change. The smaller kind 

 of turtle, the tracaja, which makes its appearance in 

 the main river, and lays its eggs a month earlier than 

 the large species, is of less utility to the inhabitants 

 although its flesh is superior, on account of the diffi- 

 culty of keeping it alive ; it survives captivity but a 

 very few days, although placed in the same ponds in 

 which the large turtle keeps well for two or three 

 years. 



Those who cannot hunt and fish for themselves, and 

 whose stomachs refuse turtle, are in a poor way at 

 Ega. Fish, including many kinds of large and delicious 

 salmonidse, is abundant in the fine season ; but each 



