THE VOYAGE. 33 
number of lines were hanging from the bow, the 
ship almost still, when there was a tremendous 
hue-and-cry that a turtle was hooked. To hold 
him with the line would have been an utter 
impossibility—he could have smashed it like pack- 
thread. The barbed trident called ‘a grains’ 
was brought into immediate requisition, and from 
the ‘ dolphin-striker’ an experienced hand sent 
it crashing through the turtle’s armour-plates ; a 
boat was lowered, tackle rigged, and the ponder- 
ous reptile safely deposited on the deck. The 
species I was unable to determine, for I had 
barely time to seize the sucking-fish (Remora) 
that were clinging to its shell in clusters, and 
observe the curious beings, parasitic and others, 
that evidently used the turtle as a living raft, on 
which to cruise about; ere the remorseless cook, 
armed with knife, axe, and saw, hewed and 
hacked the monster, I could have devoted days 
to examine, into junks for the pot. The harvest 
gleaned from his shell I shall speak of in the 
chapter on Fishes. 
All our fresh provisions had long been expen- 
ded, and water reduced to a very small supply 
per diem, when on the 11th of July, the seventieth 
day at sea, ‘land on the starboard bow’ was an 
WOL, I. D 
