EGG-IIAUA'KST. 193 



the forests of the Orinoco, and hecome aware of the CUAP.XVll. 



smallness of the European establishments, their solitude, c.,. .TT'„ 



r 1 -1 1-1 -1 Slicht influ- 



and the state ot the tribes which retain their iiulepen- enceoftiie 

 dence, — we cannot allow ourselves to attribute the ""^^'lonancs. 

 agreement of these accounts to the influence of mission- 

 aries and to that of Christianity ujjon national traditions. 

 Nor is it more probable that the sight of marine bodies, 

 found on the summits of mountains, presented to the 

 tribes of the Orinoco the idea of those great inundations 

 which for some time extinguished the germs of organic 

 life upon the globe. — The country which extends I'rom 

 the right bank of the Orinoco to tlie Casiquiare and the 

 Rio Negro consists of primitive rocks. I saw there a 

 small dcposite of sandstone or conglomerate, but no 

 secondary limestone, and no trace of petrifactions." 



At eleven in the morning the travellers landed on an Turtle egcv. 

 island celebrated for the turtle-fisliery, or the " harvest 

 of eggs," which takes place annually. Here tliey found 

 encamped more than 300 Indians of different races, each 

 tribe, distinguished by its peculiar mode of painting, 

 keeping separate from the rest, together witli a few 

 white men who had come to purchase egg-oil from them. 

 The missionary of Uruaiia, whose presence was neces- xjruana 

 sary to procure a supply for the lamp of the church and missionaiies. 

 keep the natives in order, received the strangers with 

 kindness, and made the tour of the island with them ; 

 showing them, by means of a pole which he thrust into 

 tlie sand, tlie extent of the stratum of eggs that had 

 been deposited wherever there were no eminences. The 

 Indians asserted, that in coming up the Orinoco, from 

 its mouth to tlie junction of the Apure, there is no place 

 where eggs can be collected in abundance ; and the only 

 three spots where the turtles assemble annually in great 

 numbers are situated between the mouth of the Apure 

 and the great cataracts. These animals do not seem to 

 pass beyond the falls, the species found above Ature* 

 and Maypures being different. 



The arrau or tortuga, which deposites the eggs that are Fresh-water 

 so much valued on the Lower Orinoco, is a large fresh- tortoise. 



