It 



C II E LO N I A 



gous to the albumen or white in the eggs of birds, 

 does not coagulate by the heat of boiling water. 



As the female turtle lays her eggs at three or four 

 times, with intervals of about a fortnight, the young are 

 of course hatched at different periods, the eggs of each 

 laying require about three weeks before the young 

 are ready for extrusion. The little animals are of 

 the same shape with their parent, but have only a 

 soft covering instead of a shell. As soon as they are 

 released from their confinement, they make directly 

 for the water ; and though this be sometimes at a 

 considerable distance, they shape their course to- 

 wards it in a straight direction. But a small propor- 

 tion of them, however, in general reach their natura 

 habitation, Great numbers of them are seized by 

 various predacious animals, especially cormorants and 

 other large birds, which hover about the shore from 

 Mav to September, for the purpose of seizing such a 

 desirable prize. 



The individuals of this species are often found col- 

 lected into numerous groups, though it does not appear 

 that they have much enjoyment ot'a social intercourse, 

 but are rather attracted to tlnj saint; place by the abun- 

 dance of their natural food which it alFords. During 

 the coupling season the male and female seem warmly 

 attached to each other, and are said to continue 

 together for near a fortnight. 



To what age the green turtle is capable of living, 

 were it to remain unmolested, cannot be ascertained ; 

 but it is conjectured, by those naturalists who suppose 

 the age of an animal to depend upon its size, and 

 the number of years required for attaining its full 

 growth, that this species must live for at least a 

 century. We shall see hereafter that this is no 

 uncommon age for species of a much more diminutive 

 size. 



Even in the time of Pliny, the taking of turtles for 

 the tables of the great was practised in the East 

 Indies ; and if we may credit the accounts of ^Elian 

 and Diodorus Siculus, the barbarous nations of the 

 East were accustomed to employ the shields of the 

 largest individuals as canoes. It is believed that it is 

 only within these hundred and twenty years that 

 turtles have been imported into Europe for the 

 purposes of food. 



Various methods are resorted to in different 

 countries for catching turtles. A very common mode 

 is, to watch them as they go on shore or return 

 during the season of laying their eggs, when they are 

 easily arrested, and, by the united force of several 

 persons, are turned on their backs, a position from 

 which they find it extremely difficult to escape. 

 Several individuals are thus turned, and when a 

 sufficient number has been thus partly secured, they 

 are dragged away by ropes, and carried in boats to 

 their place of destination. This is the method prac- 

 tised by the inhabitants of the Bahama islands, and 

 is often employed with success by sailors while 

 touching at the islands between the tropics during 

 their long voyages. Turtles are also taken while 

 swimming in the sea. Some fishers of great dexterity 

 dive for such as they see at the bottom in the 

 shallows, and, getting on their backs, press down the 

 hind part, and raise the fore part of their body, so as 

 to compel them to rise to the surface, wrun an 

 assistant is ready to slip a noose over the head, and 

 thus secure the captured animal. The most common 

 mode, however, of catching turtles out at sea, is by 

 means of a kind of spear, or harpoon, with a long 



wooden shaft, to which the head of the spear is but 

 loosely attached. This kind of fishing, as it is termed, 

 is generally carried on by two men in a small light 

 boat or canoe. One of those persons manages the 

 boat, while the other stands ready to dart the spear 

 into the back of his destined victim. It is not long 

 before a turtle is seen either swimming at the surface, 

 or, what is more usual, feeding at the bottom, when 

 the water is about a fathom deep. Sometimes the 

 animal discovers the approach of his enemies, and 

 endeavours to escape, but the men paddle after him, 

 and generally contrive to tire him out in about half 

 an hour's chace. The spearman then hurls his 

 weapon, the head of which, from the peculiar con- 

 struction of the instrument, generally sticks fast in 

 the shell, while its attachment to the shaft is secured 

 by a long string. The animal, thus wounded, again 

 makes oft', unless he has been so much fatigued in the 

 chace as to be incapable of further exertion. In 

 either case he soon becomes an easy prey to his 

 pursuers. 



It is only for its flesh that this species is so much 

 esteemed, its shell being of no use. In many of the 

 West Indian islands turtles are exposed in the open 

 market, and a turtle-steak is there as common as a 

 beef-steak in Britain. The flesh of the turtle is 

 extremely nutritious, and is considered an excellent 

 restorative in cases of debility and emaciation. 



Green turtle are perhaps the most delicate, and 

 certainly the mildest in their manners of the whole 

 genus. They are, strictly speaking, inter-tropical 

 animals, being rarely, if ever, found beyond the 20th 

 degree of latitude in either hemisphere. Within 

 their range, however, they are very plentiful, and 

 afford an abundant supply of food to even the rudest 

 tribes. The New Hollanders, in the northern parts 

 of that island, which lie within the turtle latitudes, 

 are very dexterous in the capture of them. For this 

 purpose they make use of barbed pegs of very hard 

 wood, which are loosely placed on the end of a pole 

 of light wood of considerable length. This poie is 

 made a little thick at the end, over which a loop of 

 string is passed, the other end of which is firmly 

 attached to the peg. This they throw as a spear, in 

 the use of which they are extremely dexterous, and 

 the peg, taking effect in the cartilaginous covering of 

 the turtle, remains firm there, while the long handle 

 disengages from the peg, but remains attached by the 

 thread, and acts as a float which keeps the turtle 

 close at the surface, so that they can paddle after it 

 till it is completely exhausted, and so capture it 

 with very little trouble. On the north-west coast of 

 he same island, where the land is almost, or alto- 

 gether barren, and no inhabitants have hitherto been 

 seen, turtle come to the banks in great numbers for 

 the purpose of depositing their eggs, and are cap- 

 tured by turning them on their backs, in the same 

 manner as is practised at Ascension, in the South 

 Atlantic, and at the Gallipagos islands, on the west 

 :oast of America. 



It should seem that volcanic formations, and also 

 oral reefs, have some peculiar attractions for these 

 animals ; and it is natural to suppose that they 

 should, inasmuch as these are the elements of much 

 greater fertility for those marine plants upon which 

 .urtle feed, in both of these, than those are in more 

 earthy formations. Volcanic matter always contains a 

 considerable proportion of salts or alkalis, and there 

 s a good deal of animal matter in the substance of 



