Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-01-06
Brazilian Turtles and Turtle-Butter.


ONE Of the most abundant and useful
animals of tropical South America is the
turtle, which yields 10 the natives large
supply of TODD in its flesh and its eggs.
So eagerly and necessarily has the animal
been hunted for many years that, great as
are its numbers at the present time, they
have susceptibly diminished within a
quite recent period, and the day seems
not far distant when it may be altogether
exterminated. According to Mr. Franz
Keller, there are five species Of Turtles
living on the Amazon and its affiuents,
the largest and most valuable of which is
called the tartaruga. The market price
Of this species has doubled during the last
half-dozen years, showing that it is grad
ually growing more scarce. 1t is hunted
at all seasons and the annual slaughter is
enormous.
In the month Of September the turtles
visit the sandy shoals of the rivers to de-
post their eggs, and are then assent led
| IN incredible numbers. So blind are they
| to all danger while engaged in providing
for the perpetuation of their species that
they easily become prey to the hunter,
who has only to turn as many upon their
backs as he Las a mind to and afterward
dispatch them at his leisure At single
point Praia de Tamundua, on the Ma
deira River, 1900 or 1000 turtles are reg
ularly caught in each laying season be-
sides those, amounting to many hundreds,
that are taken by passing canoes for i'm
mediate consumption or to be kept as
livestock. SOIL
The turtle, with wonderful rapidity,
digs large hole in the sand foot and
half deep, wherein it lays from 100 to 200
eggs. So great is the throng of builders
intent upon the same work and eager for
an opportunity that the nests already
made are often broken up and their con-
tents scattered about. Yet the depreda-
tons that the turtles unwittingly practice
upon each other are as nothing compared
with those which they suffer from man.
kind. The havoc made Of their nests by
the egg-hunters is almost beyond COM
putation. On the Madeira alone about
100000 eggs are annually sacrificed in
the manufacture of butter
This substance is chiefly used for lamp
oil, yet in the cuisine of the natives it is
often employed in cooking. 1t is vii
famous compound, being made with q
magnificent disregard of purity and clean
illness, both in the materials and in the
process of manufacture. The eggs are
dug out of the nests and thrown-whether
fresh or addled-into the canoe OF the
hunter. The shells are broken by tread
ing upon them, and the fat yolks mingled
IN thick, yellow fluid. Exposed to the
rays of the sun the oil rises to the surface,
IS skinned off into jars, and is then ready
for use. "The decomposition Of manifold
impurities" says Mr.. Keller, land the
have been already half-hatched by the
sun, give it an abomInable flavor, recall
ing to mind Russia leather and tanneries.''
The tartaruga and other turtles are
hunted with the bow and arrow, out of the
laying season. A long, fine strip of pine
apple fiber is attached to the arrowhead
and wound about the shaft. This unrolls
as the stricken animal dives, and the
loosened shaft, floating on the water, shows
the position of the victim The fisherman
has then but to haul in his prey, and, as
soon as it reaches the surface, finish it
with heavy blOw.-CbjcGgo Tribune.