204 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. > 



good " find " sometimes means the discovery of several 

 hundreds o£ eggs in the same spot. 



When this is satisfactorily ascertained, the man who 

 makes the discovery waits till all the eggs are de- 

 posited and. the turtle is about to cover them up, when 

 lie approaches, and turns the animal over — a feat that 

 requires both dexterity and strength to perform, with 

 a sharp look-out for the eyes, which are otherwise 

 liable to be blinded by the sand which the turtle will 

 scratch up. 



It may not be out of place to say here, that though of 

 the marine turtles the flesh of the green variety is the 

 only kind suitable for food, yet the eggs of all are edible. 

 At Key West, however, and perhaps in other parts of 

 Florida, the loggerhead is eaten ; but we do not consider 

 it as legitimate human food. 



Unlike his green congener, the loggerhead is not a 

 purely grazing animal ; in the Gulf of Florida, he feeds 

 on that singular mollusc the nautilus — the " Portuguese 

 man of war " of seamen — which abounds in those waters. 



The Orinoco and Amazon Indians obtain from these 

 eggs a kind of clear, sweet oil, which they use instead of 

 butter. In the month of February, when the high waters 

 of the rivers have receded, millions of turtles come on 

 shore to deposit their eggs. The certainty and abund- 

 ance of the harvest is such that it is estimated by the 

 acre. The yearly gathering about the mouth of the 

 river alone is nearly five thousand jars of oil, and it 

 takes five thousand eggs to make a jar. A native of 

 Brazil will consume as many as twenty or thirty turtles' 

 eggs at a meal, and a European will eat a dozen at a 

 breakfast. They make an excellent omelet. The 

 Indians frequently eat them raw, mixed with their 

 cassava flour. 



There is some fear of the turtle supply falling off in 

 numbers, owing to the reckless way in which the eggs 

 are destroyed. These leather-cased eggs are deposited, 

 like those of the crocodile and other reptiles, in the warm 

 sand or mud, and left there to hatch out, incubation 



