

THEIR ENORMOUS ABUNDANCE. 189 



at a very early hour, and who call them ' inad tortoises.' 

 Notwithstanding the rapidity of their movements, they are 

 then easily caught with the hand. 



The three encampments formed by the Indians, in the 

 places indicated above, begin about the end of March or 

 commencement of April. The gathering of the eggs is con- 

 ducted in a uniform manner, and with that regularity which 

 characterises all monastic institutions. Before the arrival of 

 the missionaries on the banks of the river, the Indians pro- 

 fited much less from a production which nature has sup- 

 plied in such abundance. Every tribe searched the beach 

 in its own way; and an immense number of eggs were use- 

 lessly broken, because they were not dug up with precau- 

 tion, and more eggs were uncovered than could be carried 

 away. It was like a mine worked by unskilful hands. The 

 Jesuits have the merit of having reduced this operation to 

 regularity; and though the Franciscan monks, who suc- 

 ceeded the Jesuits in the Missions of the Orinoco, boast of 

 having followed the example of their predecessors, they 

 unhappily do not effect all that prudence requires. The 

 Jesuits cud not suffer the whole beach to be searched ; they 

 left a part untouched, from the fear of seeing the breed of 

 arrau tortoises, if not destroyed, at least considerably dimi- 

 nished. The whole beach is now dug up without reserve ; 

 and accordingly it seems to be perceived that the gathering 

 is less productive from year to year. 



When the camp is formed, the missionary of Uruana 

 names his lieutenant, or commissary, who divides the ground 

 where the eggs are found into different portions, according 

 to the number of the Indian tribes who take part in the 

 gathering. They are all ' Indians of Missions,' as naked 

 and rude as the * Indians of the woods ;' though they are 

 called reducidos and neqfitos, because they go to church at 

 the sound of the bell, and have learned to kneel down 

 during the consecration of the host. 



The lieutenant (commissionado del Padre) begins his 

 operations by sounding. He examines by means of a long 

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

 eggs extends. This stratum, according to our measurements, 

 extended to the distance of one hundred and twenty feet from 

 the shore. Its average depth is three feet. The commit- 



