288 LEAVES EROM THE 



of which I have taken out of their stomachs, and have seen 

 fractures upon large shells, which the turtlers told me were caused 

 by turtles. 



Of the trunk turtle (sphargis) lie says that it is rarely 

 taken ; indeed, he does not appear to have seen one in 

 those latitudes, though he ' was told they grow to a very 

 large size:' but, as he opens his description of these 

 animals by saying that they are all eatable, though he 

 qualifies it afterwards by stating that the flesh of the 

 trunk turtle is rank, but affords a large quantity of oil, 

 Pennant's anecdote relative to one of the three which 

 were captured off the coast of Scarborough, about a 

 hundred years since, should not be forgotten. It was 

 purchased by an Amphitryon, who invited several guests 

 to feast on turtle ; but there was a sage among them who 

 knew something of the matter in hand, and warned the 

 company of the consequences, who, though looking 

 somewhat blank, took his advice, with one exception. 

 That sturdy gastrophilist would not be baulked of his 

 meal, and shovelled away till he was seized with symp- 

 toms very like those of cholera, which brought him to 

 death's door. And yet Pennant, who was as accomplished 

 an antiquary as he was a naturalist, tells us, that the 

 Carthusians eat no other species; but the stomach of a 

 monk and that of a sailor will digest anything. 



Dr. Patrick Browne, in his Natural History of 

 Jamaica, mentions the hawks-bill, the green turtle, and 

 the loggerhead only. Of the first he says, that its flesh 

 is not so delicate, nor so much esteemed, as that of the 

 green turtle, though frequently used in all parts of 

 America; but its scales are the most valued, being 

 generally the thickest and best coloured. Of the second, 

 he states that it is delicate tender food while young, but 

 that as it grows old it becomes more tough and gristly; 

 and he is right. The juices, he observes, are generally 

 reckoned great restoratives; and he adds, that they heal 



