LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



93 



he got capsized, or, as Jack says, turned the turtle, 

 losing his paddle, his knife, and all his fishing 

 tackle. Active as he was, he had all the difficulty 

 in the world to right his canoe. While he was 

 hard at work doing this, the turtle was acquiring 

 fresh strength and vigor, and when he had righted 

 his little bark it was soon upset again. In short, 

 this happened nine or ten times within a day and 

 two nights, during which he was towed by the 

 turtle without the possibility of cutting or detach- 

 ing the cord. At last this tartar of a turtle got 

 tired, and, as good luck would have it, made for a 

 shoal, where the Indian managed to kill it, being 

 himself half dead with hunger, thirst, and fatigue. 



The third mode of capture noticed by Labat is 

 by setting nets, colored red so that the turtles may 

 not detect them, near the sandy shores where they 

 go to lay their eggs ; and he was present when, in 

 the evening, the nets were spread for a grande 

 pcche. He describes the nature of their oil or fat 

 to be so penetrating, that if it is placed on one side 

 of the hand, and rubbed in with a hot cloth, it will 

 make its way to the opposite side, and praises it as 

 excellent for rheumatism. 



Catesby, in his Natural History of Canada, Flor- 

 ida, and the Bahama Islands, says : 



The sea-tortoise is by our sailors vulgarly called 

 turtle, whereof there are four distinct kinds ; the 

 green .turtle, the hawksbill, the loggerhead turtle, 

 and the trunk turtle. They are all eatable ; but 

 the green turtle is that which all the inhabitants in 

 America, that live between the tropics, subsist 

 much upon. They much excel the other kinds of 

 turtle, and are in great esteem for the wholesome 

 and agreeable food they afford. 



Catesby was a good observer, and his informa- 

 tion may be generally relied on. He tells us that 

 all sorts of turtle, except the loggerhead, are tim- 

 orous, and make little resistance when taken ; but 

 that all the kinds during the season of love are very 

 furious and regardless of danger. The male and 

 female, he says, usually remain together about 

 fourteen days. 



After describing the structure of the limbs as 

 more fitted for swimming than walking, he remarks 

 that .' .',,' 



They never go on shore but to lay their eggs, 

 which is in April ; they then crawl up from the 

 sea, above the flowing of high water, and dig a- 

 hole above two feet deep in the sand, into which 

 they drop in one night above an hundred eggs ; 

 at which time they are so intent on nature's work, 

 that they regard none that approach them, but will 

 drop their eggs in a hat, if held under them ; but 

 if they are disturbed before they begin to lay, they 

 will forsake the place and seek another. They lay 

 their eggs at three, and sometimes at four, differ- 

 ent times, there being fourteen days between every 

 time. * * When they have laid their complement 

 of eggs, they fill the hole with sand, and leave them 

 to be hatched by the heat of the sun, which is usu- 

 ally performed in about three weeks. 



His description of the mode of capture varies 

 little from that of Labat, except that he says noth- 

 ing of nets. 



7 



The inhabitants of the Bahama Islands, by oftei 

 practice, are very dexterous in catching them, par- 

 ticularly the green turtle. In April they go ii> 

 little boats to the coast of Cuba, and other neigh- 

 boring islands, where, in the evening, especially in 

 moonlight nights, they watch the going and return 

 ing of the turtle to and from their nests ; at which 

 time they turn them on their backs, where they 

 leave them and proceed on turning all they meet, 

 for they cannot get on their feet again when once 

 turned. Some are so large that it requires three 

 men to turn one of them. The way by which tur- 

 tle are most commonly taken at the Bahama Islands, 

 is by striking them with a small iron peg of two 

 inches long ; this peg is put in a socket at the end 

 of a staff twelve feet long. Two men usually set 

 out for this work in a little light boat or canoe ; 

 one to row and gently steer the boat, while the 

 other stands at the head of it with his striker. The 

 turtle are sometimes discovered by their swimming 

 with their head and back out of the water ; but 

 they are oftenest discovered lying at the bottom, a 

 fathom or more deep. If the turtle perceives he is 

 discovered, he starts up to make his escape ; the 

 men in the boat pursuing him endeavor to keep 

 sight of him, which they often lose, and recover 

 again by the turtle putting his nose out of the water 

 to breathe ; thus they pursue him, one paddling or 

 rowing, while the other stands ready with his 

 striker. It is sometimes half an hour before he is 

 tired ; then he sinks at once to the bottom, which 

 gives them an opportunity of striking him, which 

 is by piercing the shell of the turtle through with 

 the iron peg, which slips out of the socket, but is 

 fastened by a string to the pole. If he is spent 

 and tired by being long pursued, he tamely sub- 

 mits when struck to be taken into the boat or hauled 

 ashore. There are men who by diving will get on 

 their backs, and by pressing down their hind part, 

 and raising the fore part of them by force, bring 

 them to the top of the water, while another slips a 

 noose about their necks. 



There is nothing new under the sun. Hear 

 Pliny through the quaint pen of Philemon Holland : 



Many waies the fishermen have to catch them, 

 but especially in this manner ; they use in the 

 morning, when the weather is calm and still, to 

 flote aloft upon the water, with their backs to be 

 seen all over ; and then they take such pleasure in 

 breathing freely and at libertie that they forget 

 themselves altogether ; insomuch as their shell in 

 this time is so hardened and baked with the sun, 

 that when they would they cannot dive and sinke 

 under the water again, but are forced against their 

 wills to flote above, and by that meanes are exposed 

 as a prey unto the fishermen. Some say that they 

 go forth in the night to land for to feed, where 

 with eating greedily they be wearie ; so that in 

 the morning, when they are returned again, they 

 fall soon asleep above the water, and keepe such a 

 snorting and routing in their sleepe, that they be- 

 wray where they be, and so are easily taken ; and 

 yet there must be three men about every one of 

 them ; and when they have sworn unto the tor- 

 toise, two of them turn him upon his backe, the 

 third casts accord or halter about him, as hee lyeth 

 with his belly upward, and then is he haled by 

 many more together to the land. 



In the South Seas skilful divers get under the 

 turtles, and surprise them when so floating. 



The spirit-stirring salmon-hunt in Redgauntlet 



