Edible Turtle — Common Plants. 233 



islands it has been found advisable to put them at the bottom of 

 basin-shaped excavations some three or four feet in depth, so that 

 the roots may have a chance of reaching the moist coral beneath. 

 Providence Island being sufficiently low by nature, it was not 

 necessary to make these excavations. 



Green turtle are captured in great numbers during the month 

 of April, when the females come up on the beaches to deposit 

 their eggs. A turtle pond near the settlement contained, at the 

 time of our visit, no less than eighty, all of large size. In con- 

 nection with this pond a portion of the sandy inner beach was 

 wattled in, so as to serve as a hatching-ground for the captured 

 turtle. As soon as the young ones have become sufficiently 

 strong to. take care of themselves, they are turned adrift into the 

 open sea. In this way the young turtle escape the danger, which 

 they are otherwise exposed to when of a tender age, of being 

 destroyed by predatory sea-birds ; and thus the maintenance of 

 the stock is favoured. . It is a curious thing that young turtle 

 seem to have a difficulty about, or a strong disinclination to, 

 diving beneath the surface of the water. One almost always sees 

 them floating in the ponds, instead of groping about the bottom 

 as the adults do. 



The indigenous fauna and flora were almost identical with those 

 of the Amirantes, except that there were no land-birds as at Isle 

 des Roches. Monsieur Hoyaeux very kindly supplied me with 

 the Creole names of the trees, shrubs, and one or two herbaceous 

 plants. Among these were the " Bois Blanc " {Hernandia peltatd), 

 " Sauve Souris " (a low tree with long dark green leaves), " Bois 

 Cu Cu " (a tree with drupaceous fruit, having a curved hook at 

 the apex), " Veloutier Tabac " {Tournefortia argentea, a seaside 

 bush of the family Apocynacecs, the leaves of which are sometimes 

 smoked instead of tobacco), and the " Veloutier Blanc " {Sc(ZVoIa 

 Kccnigii, a very common seaside bush of the family Goodemacecs). 

 Some of the bushes and Casiiarina trees (called " Cedre " by the 

 Creoles) were overrun with a parasitic creeping plant, CassytJia 



