NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 277 



part of one hundred and eighty, belonging to Port Royal, are 

 always imployed. They are worth fifteen shillings apiece, best 

 when with eg-;, and brou iht or put into pens, or ])alisadoed places, 

 in the harbour of Port Royal, whence they are taken and killed as 

 occasion requires. They are much better when brought iu first, 

 than after languishing in those pens for want of food. 



Ajiicius certainly liad Darteneuf on tlie hip when, in 

 reply to tlie strictures of the latter on his not having 

 made a voyage to Britain for the purpose of eating oysters, 

 the ghost of the Roman retorted with the modern epi- 

 cm'e's short-comings on his confession that, when in the 

 flesh, he had not been to the West Indies to enjoy 

 turtle.* 



Sloane gives a somewhat startling account of the effect 

 of a turtle diet: — 



They infect the blood of those feeding on them, whence their 

 shirts are yellow, and their skin and face of the same colour. 



Our aldermen had better liave an eye to their linen 



* Apicins. Wh.at grieves me most is, that I never eat a Turtle. 

 They tell me that it is absolutely the best of all foods ! 



Darteneuf. Yes, I have heard the Americans say so : but I never 

 eat any ; for in my time they were not brought over to England. 



Apicius. Never eat any turtle ! IIow didst thou dare accuse me 

 of not going to Sandwich to eat oysters, and didst not thyself 

 take a trip to America, to riot on turtles f But know, wretched 

 man, that I am informed they are now as plentiful in England as 

 sturgeon. There are turtle-boats that go regularly to London and 

 Bristol from the West Indies. I have just seen a fat alderman, 

 who died in Lonilon last week, of a surfeit he got at a turtle feast 

 in the City. 



Darteneuf. What does he say ? Does he tell you that turtle is 

 better than venison f ' 



Apicius. He says there was a haunch of venison untouched, 

 while every mouth was employed on the turtle : that he eat till he 

 fell asleep in his chair, and that the food was so wholesome, he 

 should not have died, if he had not unluckily caught cold in his 

 sleep, which stopped his perspiration and hurt his digestion. 



Darteneuf. Alas ! how imperfect is human felicity, &c. 



Lyttelton's Dialogues of the Dead. 3d edit. 1/60. 



