Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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It
Seems That The Arrau Does Not Pass Beyond The Cataracts; And We Were
Assured, That Only The Turtles Called Terekay, (In Spanish Terecayas,)
Are Found Above Atures And Maypures.
The arrau, called by the Spaniards of the Missions simply tortuga, is
an animal whose existence is of great importance to the nations on the
Lower Orinoco.
It is a large freshwater tortoise, with palmate and
membraneous feet; the head very flat, with two fleshy and
acutely-pointed appendages under the chin; five claws to the fore
feet, and four to the hind feet, which are furrowed underneath. The
upper shell has five central, eight lateral, and twenty-four marginal
plates. The colour is darkish grey above, and orange beneath. The feet
are yellow, and very long. There is a deep furrow between the eyes.
The claws are very strong and crooked. 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.
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