180 THE INIIABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
saw three of them rising out of the water, and slowly creeping 
on shore, like black masses. We immediately ran up to the 
first, but our impatience caused it to drop immediately again 
into the sea, where it escaped our pursuit. The second, which 
had already advanced too far, was unable to retreat; we turned 
it on its back. In this way we caught about fifty turtles, some 
of which weighed five hundred pounds. Next,morning, at ten, 
the boat came to fetch the produce of our nocturnal sport. 
This work occupied us the whole day, and in the evening the 
superfluous turtles were restored to the sea. If suffered to 
remain a long time on their back, their eyes become blood- 
red, and start out of their sockets. We found several on 
the strand that had been allowed to perish in this position, a 
cruel negligence, of which thoughtless sailors are but too often 
guilty.” 
In the sea, also, the turtles are pursued by man. In the clear 
West Indian waters, where they are frequently seen at great 
depths, feeding on the sea-grass meadows, divers plunge after 
them and raise them to the surface. Sometimes they are har- 
pooned, or even caught sleeping on the waters. 
The ancient Romans, who spent such extravagant sums upon 
dishes repugnant to our taste, seem to have had but little relish for 
turtle flesh, which otherwise the conquerors of the world might 
easily have obtained from the Red Sea; for though we read that 
Vitellius feasted upon the brains of pheasants, and the tongues 
of nightingales, it is nowhere mentioned, that he ever, like the 
Lord Mayor of London, set seven hundred tureens of turtle 
soup before his guests. 
On the other hand, they made a very extensive use of tortoise- 
shell, the produce of the Hawk’s-bill turtle (Zes- 
tudo imbricata) a native both of the American 
and Asiatic seas, and sometimes, but more rarely, 
met with in the Mediterranean. The flesh 
of the animal is not held in any estimation as a 
food, but the plates of the shell being thicker, 
stronger, and cleaner than those of any other 
species, render it of great importance as an article 
of trade. 
“Carvilius Pollio,” says Pliny, “a man of great invention in 
