304 TURTLE-EGGS OIL-HUNTERS. 



• The turtle deposits its eggs in the sand on these river islands at the 

 beginning of the dry season, commencing in July and August. The 

 heat of the sun hatches the young ; they dig holes four feet deep, by 

 throwing the sand on each side with the hind-flippers. The motion is 

 quick and sudden, casting the sand a distance of six and eight feet from 

 them. After reaching the depth required, the female drops eggs in the 

 hole and covers up the top with sand drawn in by her fore-flippers. 

 There is an equal distribution of labor ; the hind legs dig the hole, and 

 the fore ones fill it up. The hole is gradually filled with from one hun- 

 dred and fifty to two hundred eggs. There is some difference of time 

 between the first deposit and the last ; yet, so nearly does the turtle cal- 

 culate the depth of sand, and power of the sun, that all the eggs are 

 said to hatch exactly at the same time. The young turtle rises four 

 feet from the bottom of its birth place, to meet his little brother at the 

 surface. They trot to the fryer's edge side by side, where they practice 

 swimming, to be ready for the floods that come down from the distant 

 Andes soon after they are born. 



The oil man ascends the river, with a fleet of canoes in company, 

 manned with workmen, loaded with provisions, copper boilers, spades, 

 &c. They know the time the turtle has laid its last egg, and while the 

 eggs are fresh, they dig them from the sand, beginning on one side of the 

 island, and turning up the soil to the proper depth. They throw out 

 the eggs like potatoes, while others gather them up in baskets. A 

 canoe is washed out, and the eggs thrown in and thoroughly broken by 

 means of forked sticks. The soft shell or skin, is pitched out; a quan- 

 tity of water poured in andt left to stand in the sun. The oil rises on 

 the surface ; this is skimmed off and heated in copper boilers. Being 

 put up in large earthen jars or pots, containing four or five gallons, it is 

 sold in the markets of the Amazon. In Para, the price per pound va- 

 ries from five to ten mil reis. One silver dollar of Bolivia money is now 

 worth eighteen hundred reis. While the " manteca" — butter or oil — is 

 fresh, it is used for culinary purposes. The cook, of course, knows 

 nothing of the number of young turtles which may have been boiled in 

 it during the late period of digging. Its general use, however, is for 

 lamp oil. The annual supply from all the rivers in the Amazon basin 

 is consumed within the mouths of these rivers. 



Turtle are now said to be scarce. We see millions of eggs destroyed 

 by the oil -hunters, who search all the islands, and drive the turtles from 

 one to the other. The men tell me there are no eggs to be found on 

 the island they worked at last year. The mother turtle was disap- 

 pointed ; the little ones never made their appearance from out of the 



