64 



the jaws, the plaiuti\'e expression of the eyes, and general 

 indications of discomfort forming a ghastly spectacle not 

 easily to be forgotten. The flesh of the edible turtle is 

 described by Tennent as being sold piecemeal in the market 

 place at Jafi^'na while the animal is still alive, each customer 

 being served with any part selected which is cut off and sold 

 by weight ; and Darwin, referring to the gigantic tortoise 

 of the Galapagos Archipelago, says that, when a tortoise is 

 caught, a slit is made in the skin near the tail, so as to see 

 whether the fat under the dorsal plate is thick. If it is not, 

 the animal is liberated, and it is said to soon recover from 

 the minor surgical operation. 



A single specimen of the land tortoise {Nicoria trijuga), 

 found at the foot of a tree on the sandy soil outside the town 

 of Pdmban, was brought to me for sale. The land snakes 

 of the island are represented, so far as I know, by Lycodoii 

 aulicua and Tropidonotas .sfolatus, of which the latter bit 

 Mr. Henderson's native servant in the foot, causing great 

 torture until he was assured that it was not a toxicophidlan. 

 Batrachians I have not seen on the island, but the existence 

 of Mana /icxadacf//Ia, which is, I am told, eaten in the Indo- 

 French possessions, was made evident by its nocturnal croaking 

 in a tank near the bungalow. 



One of the edible Ilolotinirians'^ {Trcpauga or Beches-de-mer) 

 is very abundant -in the mud on the south shore at Pdmban, 

 and in the vicinity of Ramesvaram, at both which places it 

 is prepared for exportation to Penang and Singapore. The 

 process of preparation, which is not an appetising one to 

 watch, is as follows: — 



The Holothurians are collected as they lie in the mud at 

 low water, and placed in a chaldron which is heated by a 

 charcoal fire. As the temperature rises in the chaldron the 

 still living animals commit suicide by the convenient process 

 of ejecting their digestive apparatus, &c., and become reduced 

 to empty leathery sacs which, by loss of water consequent on 

 the temperature to which tliey are exposed, shrivel consider- 

 ably. At the end of twenty minutes or half an hour the 

 boiling process is stopped, and the shrivelled animals are 

 buried in the sand until the following morning, when the 

 boiling process is repeated. Finally, they are arranged 

 according to their size, and are ready for shipment. 



' Holothtirlu marmorata. 



