278 LEAVES FROM THE 



and complexions. Sloane starts a theory on the colour 

 of his Transatlantic friends, whose under-garments were 

 ' stained prodigiously:' — 



This, I believe (says he), may be one of the reasons of the com- 

 plexion of om- Em-opaean inhabitants, which is chang'd, in some 

 time, from white to that of a yellowish colour, and which proceeds 

 from this, as well as the jaundies, which is common, sea air, &c. 



And then he says, not without truth, that ' all sorts of 

 Sea Tortle, except the green, are reckoned fishy and not 

 good food/ 



In his chapter ' of Quadrupeds, which are oviparous, 

 or lay eggs,' he says, — 



The best, or green turtle or tortoises, come to the Caymanes 

 once a-year to lay their eggs in the sand, to be hatch' d by the sun, 

 and at that time the turtlers take them in great numbers ; at other 

 times the turtles go to the south Cayes of Cuba, there to feed on 

 the sea grass growing under water, wherefore the turtlers go 

 thither in quest of them ; and it may be, four men in a sloop may 

 bring in thirty, forty, or fifty turtles, worth seventeen or eighteen 

 shillings a-piece, more or less according to their goodness. The 

 female with egg is reckon'd the best; they sometimes get their 

 loading in a day, but are usually six weeks in making the voyage ; 

 they feed on turtle, bisquet bread and salt : they catch the turtle 

 with nets of yarn larger than whipcord. When they come home 

 they put them into the sea in fom* square penns, or palisadoed 

 places, where they keep alive till there be occasion to kill them, 

 which will be very long sometimes, tho' the sooner they are kill'd 

 after taking, they are the fatter. The callipee, or under part of 

 the breast and belly bak'd, is reckon'd the best piece — the liver 

 and fat are counted delicacies. 



And then Sir Hans proceeds to repeat, as he has in 

 another part of his book, besides that above quoted, the 

 statement that those who feed much upon them discharge 

 at their pores a yellow serum, and that the fat is yellow, 

 tastes like marrow, and gives the skin a yellow hue, — a 

 statement which will not surprise those who know that 

 the bones of pigs, in whose food madder is mixed, become 

 coloured accordingly. 



Such is Sloane's account of the Testudo marina vul- 



