280 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



the Gulf Stream, and other causes take individuals of 

 them at times far up into northern regions. The 

 turtles found among the Bahama islands and on the 

 coast of Florida are seldom so large as those met with 

 about Cuba, on the South American coasts, in the 

 Gulf of Mexico, in Campeachy and Honduras Bay, 

 and about the point of Catoche. Being more nu- 

 merous in these parts, the vessels engaged in the 

 traffick commonly seek them there ; they must however 

 be on the watch so as not to be taken unawares by 

 the Spanish Guarda-costas, who deal rigorously with 

 all strange vessels approaching their shores. The 

 Spanish themselves make little account of the turtle, 

 their chief concern being with smuggling, which the 

 turtle-catchers generally carry on as a part of their 

 business. The turtles are caught in several ways. 

 They are snooked especially in the months of May, 

 June, and July when they come a-shore in the even- 

 ing to lay their eggs in the sand. With this in view 

 towards evening several persons are put on shore 

 where they merely go up and down turning on their 

 backs such turtles as they happen upon. From this 

 position they cannot get upon their bellies again, and 

 they are so collected and taken on board. When a 

 place is found where they have laid their eggs and 

 buried them in the sand, the eggs are taken along also, 

 serving as food to the ship's people. Commonly a 

 great number of the eggs are found together ; en- 

 closed merely in a soft skinny shell, containing little 

 white. 



Elsewhere at the mouths of creeks and narrow in- 

 lets, which the turtles are accustomed to frequent, nets 

 are laid, very spacious and knit of very weak threads. 



