Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
- Page 147 of 406 - First - Home
The Anus Is Placed At The
Distance Of One-Fifth From The Extremity Of The Tail.
The full-grown
animal weighs from forty to fifty pounds.
Its eggs are much larger
than those of pigeons, and less elongated than the eggs of the
terekay. They are covered with a calcareous crust, and, it is said,
they have sufficient firmness for the children of the Ottomac Indians,
who are great players at ball, to throw them into the air from one to
another. If the arrau inhabited the bed of the river above the
cataracts, the Indians of the Upper Orinoco would not travel so far to
procure the flesh and the eggs of this tortoise. Yet, formerly, whole
tribes from the Atabapo and the Cassiquiare have been known to pass
the cataracts, in order to take part in the fishery at Uruana.
The terekay is less than the arrau. It is in general only fourteen
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 five hexagonal on each side. The margins
contain twenty-four, all quadrangular, and much curved. The upper
shell is of a black colour inclining to green; the feet and claws are
like those of the arrau. The whole animal is of an olive-green, but it
has two spots of red mixed with yellow on the top of the head. The
throat is also yellow, and furnished with a prickly appendage. The
terekays do not assemble in numerous societies like the arraus, to lay
their eggs in common, and deposit them upon the same shore. The eggs
of the terekay have an agreeable taste, and are much sought after by
the inhabitants of Spanish Guiana. They are found in the Upper
Orinoco, as well as below the cataracts, and even in the Apure, the
Uritucu, the Guarico, and the small rivers that traverse the Llanos of
Caracas. The form of the feet and head, the appendages of the chin and
throat, and the position of the anus, seem to indicate that the arrau,
and probably the terekay also, belong to a new subdivision of the
tortoises, that may be separated from the emydes. The period at which
the large arrau tortoise lays its eggs coincides with the period of
the lowest waters. The Orinoco beginning to increase from the vernal
equinox, the lowest flats are found uncovered from the end of January
till the 20th or 25th of March. The arrau tortoises collect in troops
in the month of January, then issue from the water, and warm
themselves in the sun, reposing on the sands. The Indians believe that
great heat is indispensable to the health of the animal, and that its
exposure to the sun favours the laying of the eggs. The arraus are
found on the beach a great part of the day during the whole month of
February. At the beginning of March the straggling troops assemble,
and swim towards the small number of islands on which they habitually
deposit their eggs.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 147 of 406
Words from 76135 to 76654
of 211397