VII 
AT MANAOS 
239 
never sit down to breakfast or supper (the two 
daily meals of Brazilians) without turtle in various 
forms. We eat here at the table of an Italian 
merchant, Senhor Henrique Antonij, whose cuisine 
is excellent, and we find his turtle splendid eating. 
I know not how many forms it is cooked in, but we 
have never fewer than five dishes of turtle at table, 
viz. I. Tartaruga guisada (cooked or stewed) ; 
2. Tartaruga assada a casca {i.e. roasted in the 
shell); 3. Tartaruga picada (minced); 4. Tartaruga 
a la rosbif ; 5. Sopa de Tartaruga. Of these the 
picada is the most recke7^cke\ but I prefer the 
guisada. . . . 
I will now introduce you to the alligators 
(called here jacares), respecting which you desire 
to be informed. Above Obidos we began to fall 
in with these elegant creatures in considerable 
numbers, especially when we anchored by night 
in the still bays. In the bright moonlight we 
could see them floating about in every direction, 
sometimes quite motionless on the surface, and 
only distinguishable from logs by careful inspection. 
Their note is a sort of grunt, such as a good- 
natured pig might make with his mouth shut, only 
rather louder. By imitating it we drew them quite 
near us, and 'tis little they care for a musket-ball ! 
When, however, we got into the Parana- min's, 
and especially when we visited the Pirarucu lakes, 
with which the country is literally sown, we saw 
jacares lying about in them like great black stones 
or trunks of trees. It is amusing to observe what 
a perfectly good understanding seems to subsist 
between the jacares and the fishermen, the former 
waiting very patiently for their share, which is the 
