Show oi v noco N 3 i y a N l pG v vt w t a d P yet W a f ff f rs eft f x P r i a fr a g gr i x 9 r 1 r I j y y 4 1 Q 12 uia i is I lya f fy y f t h a alya s sy x q 1 S 'S f 4 x P x P 1 v J vJ T r An Orinoco River Turtle Prepared by t- t nol Oo ra Society Washington D NU U Service HIP up the Orinoco In the Al A theA wake of Ae Alexander ander yon von Hum Humbold Humboldt bold boldt a century and n a third after the vO voyage age of that lint fl fa famous I naturalist and finds the great stream little changed I IThe The Orinoco ranks ranIs third among the therl rl risers ers of South America Estimates I of Its length are arc as dl erse us as they Ire numerous and all are but inna for the uppermost reaches hate ne er been charted but the best figures are tho those e of the Ian national cartographic kilometers 1118 miles the mighty stream sprawls Is across the map of I Venezuela like III-e a giant fishhook 11 the I shrank flattened out to form a delta the point stuck far away somewhere In n the shado shadowy y range called the Sierra I Its tl n Hood flood Is discharged Into the Atlantic through no less than G GI distinct channels radiating northeast northeast- northeastward I ward ard from the main stream In the I form of a fan Only t two 0 are ered practicable pr for steamers Macareo which offers the most direct I route from Port of Spain Is used so 0 long as the depth of the water ater Is sum sumI I cent clent at other times boats enter via Boca Doca Gran Grande e eThe I The delta has been graphically de described described scribed by bv Beebe as the land of a 11 I sIngle tree lIe He refers refer of course to toI I the red e that grotesque tree that stands st on Its toes like a fright frightened erred ened sand crab poised for flight but while the e Is the tidewater tree of tropical seas the world orld around It Is not by an any me ins 1115 I the only species In the Orinoco delta I Graceful palms palm soon appear abo abose aboe e the bush gron growth th and It Is not long before the banks b are lined with Ith forest trees I of great variety Along the upper reaches of the Coo no reo Macareo are ex extensive e cacao plantations Beyond the Delta I On the second das da of a steamer ste trip tripI up the Orinoco the thc boat t emerges from I the delta Into the OrInoco proper proper-a rh riser er of truly majestic tlc proportions an and anda a placid surface though jaundiced ot of countenance Wide sa savannas roll a away ay Ion on either hand those to the south breaking the rocky gold bear benr bearIng ling Ing hills that held Sir Walter Raleigh's last hope of redemption Some distance higher up h two 0 ancient I forts occupy strategic posItions atop rocky eminences on the right bank where here the rh riser er Is squeezed Into n a air row channel These are Los Castillos and marls marlc the site of the old Spanish of S lhome home which h was cap captured and ultimately de tro ed by bv Sir Walter s forces In 1018 on that table ad s last t expedition to the OrInoco In search of 11 Dorado this fracas with the Spaniards cost Sir Walter Valter his elder ellIer son and his own head hlad lour l our hours abose abo e Los the steamer ste stops at Sin Fela a small right bank to town ton n which has long funs as the port for the famous gold goldfields fields of Gua Guayana nl For or the third time passengers go to tobed bed ed to the churning of the stern pad paddies dies but awake to face Boll oli olivar var surmounting n a low 10 rod rocky hill hili on the south bank banI her walls lIs still somber when hen the fir first t rays ra of sun sunlight sunlight light strike the cathedra ii 11 s checkered tower In Cui dad Bolivar This little city or of miles from the sea bea Is the capital of the state or of Bolh rr Ir null and g Ite Itea a v to an enormous region as Set et seised el ed only In by river It Is the metropolis of the Or On noco It was founded by bv the Spanish In jB 1761 under the name of Sin Thome and the e bo flat roofed houses built In solid blocks the protruding ing burred barred and shuttered windows Indo and entrancing patios p so typical of Spanish Americ i Its chief claIm to fame Is lint It Is the birthplace of the lie cDe con constitution and Angostura bitters Quite naturally the town soon boon came cameto cameto to be known n nC as Angostura strait be- be because because cause between Its rocky bill and the theOM theon OM on from which Soledad faces It the whole hole OrInoco Is squeezed to J a width of only yards Sn Swirling wIth tre- tre tremendous tremendous force Corce through h this narrow gnp gap the riser rh or has s scoured out a chan channe ne to a depth or of feet below belo sea sen lesel leel le el The mean depth of water ater Is 33 feet teet but the riser rh cr has been known to torl torice rl rice e 52 feet abo above e loss 10 stage st and flood the entire business section or of the town to d Cuidad Bolivar r oll is a pleasant place In early morning when hen the market bustles with Ith It and at e hen the to town ton n turns out to take the theair theair air on the e bree swept s Paseo lt at noon noontime noontime time It swelters In the glue glare and heat t of a tropic sun SUD and even the Imper burros nod IS as they mince along the steep flag pa paced cd streets Above the An constriction the Orinoco Is again a splendid stream for se hundred miles mileson on nn average e width tUh Including islands 1 of three and three quarter miles Below the little mud town of the Orinoco Is doubled hack sharply by a 1 range of hilts hills and forced through t two 0 roil s channels ch co 0 narrow th t hat during the rainy season the current at tImes at a velocity of 12 miles an hour This Is Cl CJ Infierno the most respected rapid of the middle Orinoco Gathering of the Turtles Above Li Urbana the hills become higher and some sn sweep up from the sery ery stream A tome line ot of gallery forest still hides the sa savannas ann s from the rh riser er but no tree relle es the som somber somber ber slate gray grav of weathered we gr granite 1 lands lable 1 ble break In sheer cUffs cliffs Iso Isolated isolated bosses boses knobs and smoothly pol fished domes rIse on every hand mon monstrous monstrous rocks are thrown thron n here and there thereIn thereIn In utter confusion and where here they Ire are touched b the Orinoco In Its rise and fall are CO ered by a burnished enamel as black as ink It Is a strange weird elrd fascinating region Here on t two 0 Islands of fine buff sand place the great annual gathering of turtles one ot of the most remarkable phenomena of the Orinoco n 0 season eason turtle eggs are to be found In the sand of almost every belch beach yet In time the w hole course of the Orinoco and Its only these t two 0 s mI bars seem favored as places To th these se sand bars at the beginning of each elch year the big turtles come liter literally literally ally In thousands thou followed by a human horde bent upon their destruction Formerly there were ere no restrictions and those thoe who ho were erp able helped them themselves selves but In the many man tights fights n which ensued the natives spilled so much of their own blood lon along with that of the turtles that the authorities hail loren Now each year the turtle rights are sold as a concession to the highest bidder In December the lie concession acre alre raises small white nags flags on tall poles as a warning to steer clear or of orth th the Island and not frighten the turtle vanguards In season the camp nt at Pia Playa 1 rung where here the turtles concentrate In greatest Is on a high sandy bunk the only root n a thatched hut but hutsen sen Ing IS as n a storehouse for profi pro I dons un unsheltered hang from almost C esery er tree Craft of every eren descrIptIon are tied up at the bank Upper Reaches of the River RiverAs As fir lS as the turtle islands and anda a little beyond both sides of the Orl noco ire are Vene territory Prom the Meta Met southward to San SUIl fernando de po Atabapo the western estern bank belong to Colomb Colombia I On a point of sand In Inthe inthe the angle bl b tween the Meta and the Orinoco b racked by a low hill of naked black rock roch stands st Puerto the only Colombian on the whole hole frontier It did not c vist In Humboldt's da day dayA A short hort distance abo abose aboe e Puerto Car Carreno Carrena reno rena the Raudal Ilu I San a S swift rapid confronts the lie A small steamer ha has great In fighting It its way y through to calmer abose ubo e Approximately 50 miles farther up upstream stream is the small settlement or of Puerto Ayacucho just below the he t two 0 Impassable rapids ot of |