SEASON OF LAYING. 
187 
s a)d, they have sufficient firmness for the children of the 
Ottoman Indians, who are great players at ball, to throw them 
“ato the air from one to another. If the arrau inhabited 
1 he bed of the river above the cataracts, the Indians of the 
h pper Orinoco would not travel so far to procure the flesh 
! ind the eggs of this tortoise. Yet, formerly, whole tribes 
o'otn the Atabapo and the Cassiquiare have been known to 
Pass the cataracts, in order to take part in the fishery at 
0 : 
ruana. 
The tereleay is less than the arrau. It is in general only 
'°urteen inches in diameter. The number of plates in the 
upper shell is the same, but they are somewhat differently 
arranged. I counted three in the centre of the disk, and 
:, IVe hexagonal on each side. The margins contain twenty- 
°ur, all quadrangular, and much curved. The upper shell 
18 of a black colour inclining to green ; the feet and claws 
a re like those of the arrau. The whole animal is of an 
' ' "'e-green, but it has two spots of red mixed with yellow on 
‘ } 6 top of the head. The throat is also yellow, and fur- 
"ished with a prickly appendage. The tereleay s do not 
' ls semble in numerous societies like the arraus, to lay tneir 
!.h'o s in common, and deposit them upon the same shore. 
he eggs of the tereleay have an agreeable taste, and are 
!j?Uch sought after by the inhabitants of Spanish Guiana. 
Llle J are found in the Upper Orinoco, as well as below the 
^taracts, and even in the Apure, the Uritucn, the Guarico, 
the small rivers that traverse the Llanos of Caracas, 
he form of the feet and head, the appendages of the chin 
‘ n d throat, and the position of the anus, seem to indicate 
l! d the arrau, and probably the tereleay also, belong to a 
t ] 6 ' v subdivision of the tortoises, that may be separated from 
]' le ort| ydes. The period at which the large arrau tortoise 
rjAs its eggs coincides with the period of the lowest waters, 
(i 6 .^noco beginning to increase from the vernal equinox, 
tn, 6 °' Ves h flats are found uncovered from the end of Ja- 
j o - ar y till the 20th or 25th of March. The arrau tor- 
f ' Ses collect in troops in the month of January, then issue 
o n't " atcr > an< i warm themselves in the sun, reposing 
m " ae sands. The Indians believe that great heat is in- 
P 6 U8able to the health of the animal, and that its expo- 
