THE TURTLES. 361 
by means of her hind fins, makes a hole in the sand. This process 
is very rapid, and a hundred eggs have been known to have been 
deposited in less than ten minutes. The number of eggs laid by a 
turtle is exceedingly various ; the maximum, however, seems to be 
two hundred and sixty. After all the eggs are laid, the creature 
throws sand over them, and so completely covers them and 
smooths the disturbed surface, that it requires a practised eye to 
discover the nest. The eggs, which are much sought for, have no 
calcareous shell, but are enveloped in a thick skin ; their shape is 
not the ordinary “ egg-shape,” but they are somewhat flat. 
Instinct has taught the turtle that her eggs so deposited, will be 
hatched by the heat of the sand, and without a shade of maternal 
longing, she dives into the sea; contented that Dame Nature should 
nurse her progeny. In some three weeks, the young turtles make 
their appearance ; they are not unlike frogs, and immediately make 
their way to the water. 
Although the turtle professes no interest in her family, yet the 
fishers assert that she invariably returns to the same place to 
deposit her eggs, and even if she be carried away hundreds of miles, 
true to her instinct, she will either immediately come back to her 
home shore, or appear there the next season. 
Different modes are pursued in taking the turtle. Generally, 
at the time of depositing the eggs, expeditions are made to the 
desert islands, or to lonely and unfrequented parts of the beaches. 
As soon as the sun is set, and the brief tropical twilight faded 
into night, a party of men walk along the edge of the water, 
and by the marks on the sand, find the path of a turtle which 
has passed up the beach. Following the tracks, the creature 
is readily found, and by dint of their united efforts, or by the 
help of levers, it is turned on its back. When once in this 
position it is safe, not being able to regain its feet. In this 
manner, many turtles are secured in one night, which are taken 
off to the ships in carts or boats in the morning. 
Between Vera Cruz and Tampico, there is a little desert 
island, about a mile square, called zsla de los Lobos. Why it 
should merit the name of “the island of the wolves,” is difficult 
even to conjecture, for certainly no wolf ever placed his foot 
