and
conduct them thither, as the crocodiles and alligators do, is a mystery.
With these last the thing is more easy, as the crocodile mothers deposit
their eggs in separate places, and each returns for her young when they
are hatched, calls them by her voice, and guides them to the pool where
they are to remain until partly grown.

But among the thousands of little turtles hatched at one place and time,
and that seek the water altogether, how would it be possible for the
turtle mother to distinguish her own young? Yet an old female turtle is
frequently seen swimming about with as many as a hundred little ones
after her! Now are these her own, or are they a collection picked up out
of the general progeny? That is an undetermined question. It would seem
impossible that each turtle mother should know her own young, yet amidst
this apparent confusion there may be some maternal instinct that guides
her to distinguish her own offspring from all the rest. Who can say?

It is not often, however, that the turtle is permitted to have offspring
at all. These creatures are annually robbed of their eggs in millions.
They have many enemies, but man is the chief. When a turtle hatching
place is discovered, the Indians assemble, and as soon as all the eggs
have been deposited, they uncover and collect them. They eat them--but
that is not the principal use to which they are put. It is for the
making of oil, or "tortoise-butter," they are collected.

The eggs are thrown into a large trough or canoe, where they are broken
up with a wooden spade and stirred about for awhile. They then remain
exposed to the sun, until the oily part collects on the surface, which
is then skimmed off and well boiled. The "tortoise-butter" is now made,
and after being poured into earthen jars or bottles, it is ready for
market. The oil is clear, of a pale yellow colour, and some regard it as
equal to the best olive oil, both for lamps and for cooking. Sometimes,
however, it has a putrid smell, because many of the eggs are already
half hatched before the gathering takes place.

What would be the result were these eggs not gathered by the Indians?
Perhaps in the different rivers of South America more than an hundred
millions of them are deposited every year! In the Orinoco alone, in
three principal hatching places, it has been calculated that at least
thirty three millions are annually destroyed for the making of
tortoise-butter! Fancy, then, one hundred mil