Note 18 — Chapter IV · IN MID-ORINOQUIA

The islands between Urbana and the cataracts of Atures have long been famous for the number of turtles that annually congregate on them. During the dry season they come to these islands by hundreds of thousands, and deposit their eggs in the playas, or sand banks, which are here quite extensive. So great is their number, says Padre Gumilla, that “It would be as difficult to count the grains of sand on the shores of the Orinoco as to count the immense numbers of turtles that inhabit its margins and waters. Were it not for the vast consumption of turtles and their eggs, the river Orinoco, despite its great magnitude, would be unnavigable, for vessels would be impeded by the enormous multitude of the turtles.”18