THE HAWK'S-BILL TUETLE. 177 



acre; an acre accurately measured, of 120 feet 

 long and 30 wide, having been known to yield 

 one hundred jars of oil. The eggs when col- 

 lected are thrown into long troughs of water, 

 and being broken and stirred with shovels, they 

 remain exposed to the sun till the yolk, the oily 

 part, is collected on the surface, and has time to 

 inspissate ; as fast as this oily part is collected 

 on the surface of the water, it is taken off and 

 boiled over a quick fire. This animal oil, or 

 ( tortoise-grease/ when prepared, is limpid, in- 

 odorous, and scarcely yellow, and it is used, not 

 merely to burn in lamps, but in dressing victuals, 

 to which it imparts no disagreeable taste. It is 

 not easy, however, to produce oil of turtle' s eggs 

 quite pure; there is generally a putrid smell, 

 owing to the mixture of addled eggs. The total 

 gathering of the three shores between the junc- 

 tion of the Orinoco with the Apure, where the 

 collection of eggs is annually made, is 5,000 

 jars, and it takes about 5,000 eggs to furnish 

 one jar of oil.* By this one means, therefore, 

 in a single district, twenty-five millions of turtles 

 are prevented coming into existence every year ; 

 or, as many as would, when full grown, cover 

 eight square miles, as closely as they could be 

 placed to each other. 



* Simmonds's " Curiosities of Food," p. 182. 

 N 



