THE AMAZON DISTRICT, 



323 



{Jacare nigra) reaches a length of fifteen, or rarely of twenty 

 feet. 



The most interesting and useful reptiles of the Amazon are, 

 however, the various species of fresh-water turtles, which supply 

 an abundance of wholesome food, and from whose eggs an 

 excellent oil is made. The largest and most abundant of these 

 is the Tataruga, or great turtle of the Amazon, the Jurara of 

 the Indians. It grows to the length of three feet, and has an 

 oval flattish shell of a dark colour and quite smooth ; it abounds 

 in all parts of the Amazon, and in most places is the common 

 food of the inhabitants. 



In the month of September, as soon as the sandbanks 

 begin to be uncovered, the females deposit their eggs, scraping 

 hollows of a considerable depth, covering them over carefully, 

 smoothing and beating down the sand, and then walking across 

 and across the place in various directions for the purpose of 

 concealment. There are such numbers of them, that some 

 beaches are almost one mass of eggs beneath the surface, and 

 here the Indians come to make oil. A canoe is filled with the 

 eggs, which are all broken and mashed up together. The oil 

 rises to the top, and is skimmed off and boiled, when it will 

 keep, and is used both for light and for cooking. Millions of 

 eggs are thus annually destroyed, and the turtles have already 

 become scarce in consequence. There are some extensive 

 beaches which yield two thousand pots of oil annually ; each 

 pot contains five gallons, and requires about two thousand five 

 hundred eggs, which would give five millions of eggs destroyed 

 in one locality. 



But of those that remain, a very small portion are able 

 to reach maturity. When the young turtles issue from the egg, 

 and run to the water, many enemies are awaiting them. Great 



from the house, could not be found, although strict search was made for it 

 all over the Fazenda. Shortly after this, one of his vaqueiros, in going 

 through a wood by the side of a small river, saw an enormous Boa 

 suspended in the fork of a tree which hung over the water ; it was dead, 

 but had evidently been floated down alive by a recent flood, and being in 

 an inert state it had not been able to extricate itself from the fork before 

 the waters fell. It was dragged out to the open country by two horses, 

 and was found to measure thirty-seven feet in length ; on opening it the 

 bones of a horse in a somewhat broken condition, and the flesh in a half- 

 digested state, were found within it, the bones o^ the head being uninjured ; 

 from these circumstances we concluded that the Boa had devoured the 

 horse entire," 



