4:78 Ti]E Andes and tue Amazons. 



yii," is also eaten. The eggs of Gulls, or "Gaviotes," 

 which are numerous as far np as the Iluallaga, and those 

 of a Tern called " Tibi," are much hunted for in the sand. 



Turtles, the great article of food and of commerce on 

 the Amazons, abound in the Solimoens, and especially in 

 the Marauon, and in all the tributaries, up to their falls ;* 

 but they are not so plentiful as formerly. Caballococha is 

 called the best field ; 4000 were caught on one playa in 

 one season. Seven kinds are known to the natives: Tarta- 

 ruga grande, or Charapa {Podocnetrds expansa), measuring 

 three feet by two ; Tartariiga cabeguda (found in the I§a); 

 Tracaja, or Charapilla {Podocnemis) ; Cambehua, Aiassa, 

 or Pitiu (an Eiays eight or ten inches long) ; Mata-mata 

 {Chalys)\ Moussoua, and Jabuti-apparema. Of these, the 

 first and third are eaten, the Charapilla being the richer 

 of the two ; and their oily eggs are largely used to make 

 "manteca," the butter of the country. The Charapa lays 

 from 120 to 150 eggs in September; and the Charapilla 

 from 30 to 40, a month earlier. The turtles are hunted 

 as they go ashore to lay their eggs.f A proposal was late- 

 ly made in the London Food Journal to establish a man- 

 ufactory on the Amazons for canning turtles for exporta- 

 tion. Such an enterprise, joined to the immense destruc- 

 tion of eggs, would soon deprive the natives of their staff 

 of life. At present, the average price of the large turtle 

 is two dollars, and of the tracaja fifty cents. Another rep- 

 tile, the ngly Iguana, which grows to the extreme length 

 of five feet, is esteemed a great delicacy when fricasseed. 

 Epicures compare it to frog's leg. 



Fishes swarm in endless variety. The great majority 



* Alligators are better travelers, being found .nbove the Falls of the Ma- 

 deira, far up the Mamore and Beni. 



t Consequently the females almost exclusively are taken. The males are 

 smaller, and go by different names. Thus, the male of the large turtle is 

 called Capitari; of the Tracaja, Anaiurt, or Taricaia, in Peru. (See p. 297.) 



