We lived at Ega, during most part of the year, on turtle.The great freshwater turtle of the Amazons grows on the upper river to an immense size, a full-grown one measuring nearly three feet in length by two in breadth, and is a load for the strongest Indian.Every house has a little pond, called a curral (pen), in the backyard to hold a stock of the animals through the season of dearth--the wet months; those who have a number of Indians in their employ send them out for a month when the waters are low, to collect a stock, and those who have not, purchasing their supply-- with some difficulty, however, as they are rarely offered for sale.The price of turtles, like that of all other articles of food, has risen greatly with the introduction of steam-vessels.When I arrived in 1850, a middle-sized one could be bought pretty readily for ninepence, but when I left in 1859, they were with difficulty obtained at eight and nine shillings each.The abundance of turtles, or rather the facility with which they can be found and caught, varies with the amount of annual subsidence of the waters.When the river sinks less than the average, they are scarce; but when more, they can be caught in plenty, the bays and shallow lagoons in the forest having then only a small depth of water.The flesh is very tender, palatable, and wholesome; but it is very cloying-- every one ends, sooner or later, by becoming thoroughly surfeited.I became so sick of turtle in the course of two years that I could not bear the smell of it, although at the same time nothing else was to be had, and I was suffering actual hunger.The native women cook it in various ways.The entrails are chopped up and made into a delicious soup called sarapatel, which is generally boiled in the concave upper shell of the animal used as a kettle.The tender flesh of the breast is partially minced with farinha, and the breast shell then roasted over the fire, making a very pleasant dish.Steaks cut from the breast and cooked with the fat form another palatable dish.Large sausages are made of the thick-coated stomach, which is filled with minced meat and boiled.The quarters cooked in a kettle of Tucupi sauce form another variety of food.When surfeited with turtle in all other shapes, pieces of the lean part roasted on a spit and moistened only with vinegar make an agreeable change.The smaller kind of turtle, the tracaja, which makes its appearance in the main river, and lays its eggs a month earlier than the large species, is of less utility to the inhabitants although its flesh is superior, on account of the difficulty of keeping it alive; it survives captivity but a very few days, although placed in the same ponds in which the large turtle keeps well for two or three years.
Those who cannot hunt and fish for themselves, and whose stomachs refuse turtle, are in a poor way at Ega.Fish, including many kinds of large and delicious salmonidae, is abundant in the fine season; but each family fishes only for itself, and has no surplus for sale.An Indian fisherman remains out just long enough to draw what he thinks sufficient for a couple of days'
consumption.Vacca marina is a great resource in the wet season.
It is caught by harpooning, which requires much skill, or by strong nets made of very thick hammock twine, and placed across narrow inlets.Very few Europeans are able to eat the meat of this animal.Although there is a large quantity of cattle in the neighbourhood of the town, and pasture is abundant all the year round, beef can be had only when a beast is killed by accident.
The most frequent cause of death is poisoning by drinking raw Tucupi, the juice of the mandioca root.Bowls of this are placed on the ground in the sheds where the women prepare farinha; it is generally done carelessly, but sometimes intentionally through spite when stray oxen devastate the plantations of the poorer people.The juice, is almost certain to be drunk if cattle stray near the place, and death is the certain result.The owners kill a beast which shows symptoms of having been poisoned, and retail the beef in the town.Although every one knows it cannot be wholesome, such is the scarcity of meat and the uncontrollable desire to eat beef, that it is eagerly bought, at least by those residents who come from other provinces where beef is the staple article of food.Game of all kinds is scarce in the forest near the town, except in the months of June and July, when immense numbers of a large and handsome bird, Cuvier's toucan (Ramphastos Cuvieri) make their appearance.They come in well-fed condition, and are shot in such quantities that every family has the strange treat of stewed and roasted toucans daily for many weeks.
Curassow birds are plentiful on the banks of the Solimoens, but to get a brace or two requires the sacrifice of several days for the trip.A tapir, of which the meat is most delicious and nourishing, is sometimes killed by a fortunate hunter.I have still a lively recollection of the pleasant effects which I once experienced from a diet of fresh tapir meat for a few days, after having been brought to a painful state of bodily and mental depression by a month's scanty rations of fish and farinha.
We sometimes had fresh bread at Ega made from American flour brought from Para, but it was sold at ninepence a pound.I was once two years without tasting wheaten bread, and attribute partly to this the gradual deterioration of health which Isuffered on the Upper Amazons.Mandioca meal is a poor, weak substitute for bread; it is deficient in gluten, and consequently cannot be formed into a leavened mass or loaf, but is obliged to be roasted in hard grains in order to keep any length of time.
