“Of this species of turtle, what most excited my surprise was the immense number of eggs which each of them has within itself; for, besides the roe ready to be laid this year, farther in they have the one for the next season, of nearly the same size as the former, but destitute of that covering or white membrane which envelops the eggs; then follow those for the third year, about the size of musket-balls; for the fourth year, of the calibre for a fowling-piece; for the fifth year, they are no bigger than buckshot; and at this rate they decrease until they present a confused mass resembling turnip and mustard-seed; and God only knows for how many years those creatures are endowed with similar receptacles of life in embryo.”
This much was observed and related concerning the turtles of Orinoco by the reverend missionary father in the early part of the seventeenth century: let us now hear what the great philosopher of modern times says in regard to these humble creatures; for he, too, spent several days among the children of nature during the “harvest” of eggs and turtles provided for them by their beneficent mother.
“I acquired some general statistical notions on the spot, by consulting the missionary of Urvana, his lieutenant, and the traders of Angostura. The shore of Urvana furnishes one thousand botijas, or jars of oil annually. The price of each jar at Angostura varies from two piastres to two and a half. We may admit that the total produce of the three shores, where the cosecha, or gathering of eggs, is annually made, is five thousand botijas. Now, as two hundred eggs yield oil enough to fill a bottle (limeta), it requires five thousand eggs for a jar or botija of oil. Estimating at one hundred, or one hundred and sixteen, the number of eggs that one tortoise produces, and reckoning that one-third of these is broken at the time of laying, particularly by the ‘mad tortoises,’ we may presume that, to obtain annually five thousand jars of oil, three hundred and thirty thousand arrau tortoises, the weight of which amounts to one hundred and sixty-five thousand quintals, must lay thirty-three millions of eggs on the three shores where this harvest is gathered. The results of these calculations are much below the truth. Many tortoises lay only sixty or seventy eggs; and a great number of these animals are devoured by jaguars at the moment they emerge from the water. The Indians bring away a great number of eggs, to eat them dried in the sun; and they break a considerable number through carelessness during the gathering. The number of eggs that are hatched before the people can dig them up is so prodigious, that near the encampment of Urvana I saw the whole shore of the Orinoco swarming with little tortoises an inch in diameter, escaping with difficulty from the pursuit of the Indian children. If to these considerations be added, that all the arraus do not assemble on the three shores of the encampment; and that there are many which lay their eggs in solitude, and some weeks later, between the mouth of the Orinoco and the confluence of the Apure; we must admit that the number of turtles which annually deposit their eggs on the banks of the Lower Orinoco, is near a million. This number is very great for so large an animal. In general large animals multiply less considerably than the smaller ones.”[63]
So extraordinary do these things appear to those not conversant with the wonders of South America, that, to strengthen my statements, I am often compelled to quote from more familiar writers on this subject, for fear of being accused of exaggeration, as has already happened with reference to one simple fact of every-day occurrence among Indian hunters. I allude to the mode of shooting turtles and crocodiles with arrows of a peculiar construction, referred to at page 109, and which appeared for the first time in previous editions of my Wild Scenes in South America. The London Saturday Review of July 11th, 1863, commenting upon this—to others than the practised eye of an Indian—most extraordinary feat of skill, appeals to one of the best mathematicians in the kingdom to learn if such a thing can be done at all; although in other respects the remarks of the reviewer are highly flattering to the book. I will endeavor to show, on this occasion, that nothing is easier when you know how to do it, in support of which I could do no better than appeal also to the testimony of English authorities. Both Wallace and Bates mention the fact in their respective books of travel on the Amazon and Rio Negro; and the latter accompanies his remarks with an accurate representation of the arrow used for that purpose, which I reproduce on the previous page, with the following paragraph alluding to the mode of using it:
“Cardozo and I spent an hour paddling about. I was astonished at the skill which the Indians display in shooting turtles. They did not wait for their coming to the surface to breathe, but watched for the slight movements in the water, which revealed their presence underneath. These little tracks on the water are called the Siriri; the instant one was perceived, an arrow flew from the bow of the nearest man, and never failed to pierce the shell of the submerged animal. When the turtle was very distant, of course the aim had to be taken at a considerable elevation, but the marksmen preferred a longish range, because the arrow then fell perpendicularly on the shell, and entered it more deeply.”[64]
The writer goes on then to describe the arrow, which corresponds in every particular with my own description of it at page 109. En passant, I will remark here that both books containing it came out in London about the same time; and I would recommend to lovers of travel and adventure the perusal of Mr. Bates’ interesting chapter on the harvest of turtles’ eggs among the sand-islands of the mighty Amazon, as well as Humboldt’s narrative on the same subject among those of its brother river, the Orinoco; both are exceedingly entertaining.
But what will the mathematicians and military men of Great Britain, or any other country, say, when I tell them of an Indian who, for a small consideration, would strike a medio-real—half a dime—with an arrow at an angle of 85°? This was done by placing the money on the top of a lime or lemon close to the big toe of the archer’s left foot; he then would bend backwards, assisted by the right one, allowing a sufficient space between the bow and the lime for the arrow to turn down after being shot up in the air; and so certain was the aim that the savage made quite a little fortune about the streets of Caracas, where he exhibited his skill during the short visit which his Cacique paid President Paez at the Capital.