478 



larity. The stratum of -eggs, however, is far from 

 covering the whole island : they are not found 

 wherever the ground rises abruptly, because the 

 turtle cannot mount these little heights. I re- 

 lated to my guides the emphatic description of 

 Father Gumilla* who asserts, that the shores of 

 the Oroonoko contain fewer grains of sand, than 

 the river contains turtles; and that these ani- 

 mals would prevent vessels from advancing, if 

 men and tigers did not annually destroy so great 

 a number. " Son cuentos de frailes" said the 

 pulpero of Angostura in a low voice ; for the only 

 travellers in this country being poor missionaries, 

 they here call tales of monks, what we call tales 

 of travellers in Europe. 



The Indians assured us, that in going up the 

 Oroonoko from it's mouth to the junction of the 

 Apure, not one island, or one beach is to be 

 found, where eggs can be collected in abun- 

 dance. The great turtle, arrau -f~, dreads places 



* Tam difficultoso es contarlas arenas de las dilatadas 

 playas del Orinoco como contar el iramenso numero de tor- 

 tugas, que alimenta eu sus margenes y corrientes. Se no 

 ubiesse tan exorbitante consumo de tortugas, de tortuguillos, 

 y de huevos, el Rio Orinoco, aun de primera magnitud, se 

 bolberia innavegable, sirviendo de embarazo a las embarca- 

 ciories la multitud imponderable de tortugas. Orinoco illustr., 

 fol. i, p. 331—336. 



+ Pronounce ata-ou. Thtti Word belongs to the Maypure 

 language, and must not be confounded with arua, whijch 



