THE TORTOISE THE TURTLE. 333 



can be heard at a distance of more than a hundred yards. 

 The female never uses her voice and the male only at such 

 times. They were at this season (the month of October) 

 laying their eggs. The female, where the soil is sandy, 

 deposits them together and covers them up with sand; but 

 where the ground is rocky she drops them indiscriminately 

 in any hollow. Mr. Bynoe found seven placed in a line on 

 a fissure. The egg is white and spherical ; one which I measured 

 was seven inches and three-eighths in circumference. The 

 inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf, 

 certainly they do not overhear a person walking close behind 

 them. I was always amused when overtaking one of these 

 great monsters as it was quietly pacing along, to see how 

 suddenly, the instant I paused, it would draw in its head 

 and legs, and uttering a deep hiss, fall to the ground with 

 a heavy sound as if struck dead. I frequently got on their 

 backs, and then, upon giving a few raps on the hinder parts 

 of the shell, they would rise up and walk away, but I found 

 it very difficult to keep my balance. The flesh of these 

 animals is largely employed, both fresh and salted; and a 

 beautiful clear oil is prepared from the fat. When a tortoise 

 is caught, the man makes a slit in the skin, near its tail, so 

 as to see inside its body whether the fat under the dorsal 

 plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is Liberated; and is 

 said to recover soon from this strange operation. In order 

 to secure the tortoises it is not sufficient to turn them, like 

 turtles, for they are often able to regain their upright position." 

 The Turtle. The Green Turtle is the turtle of the famous 

 soup. It is a large animal, measuring five or six feet in length 

 and weighing from five hundred to six hundred pounds; it 

 feeds on sea-weeds and is found in large numbers in the 

 seas of warm latitudes. The species from which we get the 

 homy substance known as tortoiseshell (Chelonia Imbricata) 

 is sometimes called the Hawk's-bill turtle. It is a smaller 

 variety, measuring about three feet and belonging to tropical 



