The weekly Corinthian. (Corinth, Miss.) 1894-19??, 1916-03-23
SOUTH AMERICA BY
HENRY G. MOORE
CONTINUED from Page =
Rio Amazon Brazil


On the Amazon the days ar
more or less alike one perpetua
summer, even the periodical phe
nomena of plants and birds d
not take place at the same time
as they do in cold climates. Their
is no Information. Plants do no
flower nor shed their leaves, no.
do birds moult, pair or breed sim
ultaneously. Probably South
America has more pretty birds
and butterflies than any other
country in the world and like all
tropical countries abounds in ven
emous reptiles; the Anaconda and
the boa reaching enormous size.
The boa inhabits the land, while
the anaconda lives in or near the
water and is much feared by the
natives. Alligators inhabit all the
tributary waters of the Amazon.
The natives eat the small alliga-
tors and the large alligators eat
the small natives. The Manatee
is quite common and grows to an
enormous size, six feet in length
and of several hundred pounds
weight not being uncommon. The
flesh Of the Manatee has somewhat
the taste Of very course pork and
is much 1elished by the natives
for food. The Manatee feeds on
grasses and aquatic plants near
the border of the rivers and lakes,
and although the aquatic animal
has the habit Of sucking it's young
from the breast. However, the
most interesting and useful Of all
the reptiles of the Amazon are the
various species Of the great water
turtles. The largest and most
abundant of these grow to the
length. of three feet and is found
in great numbers in all the tribu-
tary streams Of the Amazon and
is the common food of the natives.
I have in my employ for guide
and general camp strategy, Won
Hindenburg, the End, an old In
dian whose head is as full of leg
ends and old Indian sayings as
Corinth is full Of war prophets.
This old Indian tells me that he
can remember when these waters
teemed as thickly with turtles as
the air does today with mosqui-
toes and that the turtles have
greatly decreased in numbers and
are still fast decreasing. We can
well believe much of this old In
dian story, for at one time the In
dams of the tributary streams
shipped annually to the villages
on the lower Amazon twenty
thousand gallons of oil made from
turtle eggs, and since it takes two
thousand eggs to make one gallon
Of oil, with the wasteful process
OF extracting the oil, the destruc-
ton must necessarily have been
great. The turtles lay their eggs
by night, leaving the water in
vast numbers and seek high
ground where they deposit their
eggs in pits scooped out in the
sand. Each turtle deposits about
one hundred eggs, and the turtles
finish laying in about fifteen days, |
after which they all return to the |
water.
AS might be reasonably expect
ed, Brazil has many kinds of wild !
fruits and nuts. Some Of the mon |
strous trees are veritable giants
and the great height to which
they grow without a branch is re-
markable. 1t takes the Brazilian
nut more than whole year to
produce and ripen into fruits; the
tree will be in flower and ripe
fruit at the same time and these
flowers form nuts for the follow
ing year. Brazilian nutmegs are
quite common and many other
trees of the same family.
Rubber is found throughout the
whole Of Brazil and the process
If collecting is quite simple. The
milky sap which trickels from
yashes made in the bark is col
ected in recepticles much like