641 



periodically in every part of the torrid zone, fish- 

 ing almost entirely ceases. It is then as difficult 

 to procure fish in the rivers which are become 

 deeper, as when you are sailing on the open sea. 

 It often fails the poor missionaries, on fast days 

 as well as flesh-days, though all the young In- 

 dians are under the obligation of " fishing for 

 the convent." At the period of these inunda- 

 tions, which last two or three months, the Oto- 

 macs swallow a prodigious quantity of earth. 

 We found heaps of balls in their huts, piled up 

 in pyramids three or four feet high. These balls 

 were five or six inches in diameter. The earth, 

 which the Otornacs eat, is a very fine and unc- 

 tuous clay, of a yellowish gray colour; and, 

 being slightly baked in the fire, the hardened 

 crust has a tint inclining to red, owing to the 

 oxid of iron which is mingled with it. We 

 brought away some of this earth, which we took 

 from the winter provision of the Indians ; and it 

 is absolutely false, that it is steatitic, and contains 

 magnesia. Mr. Vauquelin did not discover any 

 traces of this earth in it : but he found, that it 

 contained more silex than alumin, and three 

 or four per cent of lime. 



The Otornacs do not eat every kind of clay 

 indifferently ; they choose the alluvial beds 

 or strata that contain the most unctuous earth, 

 and the smoothest to the feel. I inquired of the 

 missionary, whether the moistened clay were 

 vol. v. 2 T 



