It is supposed that not fewer than a million of turtles lay their eggs at the mouth of the great river Orinoco. More than three millions of eggs were taken the year I was there. Each turtle lays, on an average, seventy eggs. You may be surprised that out of seventy millions of eggs laid, only three millions were taken. But so many are broken, so many hunted out and devoured by the jaguars and other animals that feed upon them, that the wonder is, rather, that we find the vast number that we do. Many escape and are hatched however, for I saw in one instance, the whole shore of the Orinoco, swarming with little turtles, just hatched, and scrambling towards the water to escape from the Indian children who were catching them.
The turtles lay their eggs during the night, in large holes, which they scratch in the sand. They then cover them up, and leave them to be warmed into life by the sun. The eggs are larger than pigeons’ eggs, and when well preserved, by slightly boiling or by drying in the sun, are very pleasant food.
We saw some large shells of turtles which the jaguars had emptied as neatly as if the flesh had been cut away with a sharp knife. Those animals hunt the poor creatures, catch them, turn them on their backs—you know they cannot turn back again—and then devour them at their leisure.
THE ANIMALS.
[Animals of South America—Jaguar—Water Hog.]
The same day that we went to the egg harvest, as we were sailing along on the river, we saw a jaguar feasting on a chiquire or water hog, and a large flock of vultures hovering round him, as if they grudged him every mouthful he swallowed. Finally they troubled him so much, that he took up his prey and carried it off into the adjacent forest.
But I found creatures in South America, more terrible than serpents, jaguars, or crocodiles. You will wonder, perhaps, what they could be. Then I’ll tell you. They were musquetoes, white flies, and ants.
Musquetoes are indeed troublesome every where; but nowhere that I have been—and I have been in all parts of the world—so much so as in South America. Why, we seemed to breathe them, almost, instead of air. We were never free from them except at midnight; and then other insects, huge bats, and jaguars, kept us in continual alarm.
Sleeping rooms there, are sometimes built on poles, or scaffolding, higher than these cruel insects ever fly, which is found to be about twelve feet from the level of the rivers; and in these apartments we were able to obtain a little breathing comfort. Vast regions of the country are rendered uninhabitable by the different species of tormenting animals which infest it. When two persons meet in the morning, the first question often is, “How are you to-day for the musquetoes?” I have had both my legs swelled to a most enormous size, by the bites of these animals.