Tortoises/tell and the Turtle Fisheries. 365 



England as an article of food about the eighteenth century, 

 for a record in the Gentleman's Magazine, under date 

 August 31, 1/53, shows that it was then a rarity ; but they 

 did not understand how to dress it. It states : " A turtle, 

 weighing 350 Ibs., was ate at the King's Arms, Pall Mall ; 

 the mouth of an oven was taken down to admit the part to 

 be baked." 



The locality for feasting upon the turtle now has been 

 transferred chiefly to the precincts of the City ; and the 

 Ship and Turtle, Birch's in Cornhill, the Guildhall, and 

 Mansion House, are the chief depots of consumption. Steam 

 communication too has greatly increased the imports of 

 this reptile. About 15,000 are now introduced into our 

 ports, and from thence to our kitchens, every year. They 

 weigh from a quarter to three cwt, and may be valued in 

 the aeereeate at about ^8000, or more. Not that all these 



o O O 



shielded animals so arriving can be called " lively turtle," 

 for the voyage has very often a damaging effect upon 

 them, and they have to be brought into flesh before they 

 can be dished up for an alderman's or nobleman's table. 



Dr. Browne, in his " History of Jamaica," speaking of 

 the turtle, says " it is delicate, tender food while young, 

 but as it grows old it becomes more tough and gristly, 

 and is not so agreeable to the stomach in those warm 

 countries ; the juices, however, are generally reckoned 

 ereat restoratives, and often observed to heal and smooth 



o 



the skin in scorbutic and leprous habits." 



The flesh of the green turtle is employed in the West 

 India islands generally, in all the maritime cities of the 

 United States, Brazil, and Peru, in England, in Africa, the 

 Cape Verd islands, and among the natives who inhabit 

 the western coasts of Africa, Guinea, and Congo, the 

 islands of Mauritius and Reunion in the Indian Ocean, 



