246 



MAKING MANTEIGA. 



ing stones to piles of egg-shells; and my man-of-war to a schooner of 

 thirty tons. 



The season for making manteiga on the Amazon generally ends by 

 the first of November ; but the rise of the river this year has been un- 

 usually late and small. The people are still collecting the eggs, though 

 they all have young turtles in them. 



A commandant, with soldiers, is appointed every year by some provin- 

 cial or municipal authority to take care of the beaches, prevent disorder, 

 and administer justice. 



Sentinels are placed at the beginning of August, when the turtles com- 

 mence depositing their eggs, and are withdrawn when the beach is ex- 

 hausted. They see that no one wantonly interferes with the turtles, or 

 destroys the eggs. Those engaged in the making of manteiga pay a 

 capitation tax of twelve and a half cents duty to the government. 



The process of making it is very disgusting. The eggs, though they 

 be rotten and offensive, are collected, thrown into a canoe, and trodden 

 to a mass with the feet. The shells and young turtles are thrown out. 

 "Water is poured on, and the residue is left to stand in the sun for several 

 days. The oil rises to the top; is skimmed off and boiled in large copper 

 boilers. It is then put in earthern pots of about forty-five pounds 

 weight. Each pot of oil is worth on the beach one dollar and thirty 

 cents, and in Para usually sells at from two and a half to three dollars. 



A turtle averages eighty eggs ; forty turtles will give a pot. Twenty- 

 five men will make two hundred pots in twelve days. The beaches of 

 the Amazon and tributaries yield from five to six thousand pots annually. 

 The empty pot costs twelve and a half cents in Para. Prolific as they 

 are, I think the turtle is even now diminishing in number on the Ama- 

 zon. Vast numbers of the young are eaten by the Indians, who take 

 them by the time they are able to crawl, and when they do not measure 

 more than an inch in diameter; boil them, and eat them as a delicacy. 

 One Indian will devour two dozen of these three or four times a day. 

 The birds also pick up a great number of them as they crawl from their 

 nest to the water; and I imagine the fish, too, make them pay toll 

 as they pass. I heard complaints of the growing scarcity, both of fish 

 and manteiga, as I came down the river. 



This factoria is a small one, and will give but two or three hundred 

 pots. One requires a good stomach to be able to eat his breakfast at 

 one of these places. The stench is almost intolerable ; the beach is 

 covered with greedy and disgusting-looking buzzards, and the surface of 

 the water dotted with the humps of the deadly alligator. 



By visiting the factoria, I missed the mouth of the Jutay, which is 



