TURTLES 



377 



pond, called a curral (pen), in the back-yard to hold a 

 stock of the animals through the season of dearth — the 

 wet months ; those who have a number of Indians in 

 their employ sending them out for a month when the 

 waters are low, to collect a stock, and those who have not, 

 purchasing their supply ; with some difficulty, however, 

 as they are rarely offered for sale. The price of turtles, 

 like that of all other articles of food, has risen greatly with 

 the introduction of steam-vessels. When I arrived in 

 1850 a middle-sized one could be bought pretty readily 

 for ninepence, but when I left in 1859, they were with 

 difficulty obtained at eight and nine shillings each. The 

 abundance of turtles, or rather the facility with which 

 they can be found and caught, varies with the amount of 

 annual subsidence of the waters. When the river sinks 

 less than the average, they are scarce ; but when more, 

 they can be caught in plenty, the bays and shallow lagoons 

 in the forest having then only a small depth of water. 

 The flesh is very tender, palatable, and wholesome ; but 

 it is very cloying : every one ends, sooner or later, by 

 becoming thoroughly surfeited. I became so sick of 

 turtle in the course of two years that I could not bear the 

 smell of it, although at the same time nothing else was to 

 be had, and I was suffering actual hunger. The native 

 women cook it in various ways. The entrails are chopped 

 up and made into a delicious soup called sarapafel, which 

 is generally boiled in the concave upper shell of the animal 

 used as a kettle. The tender flesh of the breast is parti- 

 ally minced with farinha, and the breast shell then roasted 

 over the fire, making a very pleasant dish. Steaks cut 

 from the breast and cooked with the fat form another 

 palatable dish. Large sausages are made of the thick- 

 coated stomach, which is filled with minced meat and 

 boiled. The quarters cooked in a kettle of Tucupi sauce 

 form another variety of food. When surfeited with turtle 

 in all other shapes pieces of the lean part roasted on a spit 

 and moistened only with vinegar make an agreeable 

 change. The smaller kind of turtle, the tracaja, which 

 makes its appearance in the main river, and lays its eggs 

 a month earlier than the large species, is of less utility 

 to the inhabitants although its flesh is superior, on account 

 of the difficulty of keeping it alive ; it survives captivity 

 but a very few days, although placed in the same ponds 

 in which the large turtle keeps well for two or three years. 



