TESTACEOUS FISH. 



347 



with their hands only ; and by this means 

 they usually catch them both together. But 

 sometimes the female escapes, being more 

 shy than the male. 



Another way of taking them is by the har- 

 poon, either when they are playing on the 

 surface of the water, or feeding at the bottom ; 

 when the harpoon is skilfully darted, it sticks 

 fast in the shell of the back ; the wood then 

 disengages from the iron, and the line is long 



" Turtles such as I have spoken of are caught in vari- 

 ous ways on the coasts of the Floridas, or in estuaries and 

 rivers. Some turtlers are in the habit of setting great nets 

 across the entrance of streams, so as to answer the purpose 

 either at the flow or at the ebb of the waters. These nets 

 are formed of very large meshes, into which the turtles par- 

 tially enter, when, the more they attempt to extricate 

 themselves, the more they get entangled. Others harpoon 

 them in the usual manner ; but in my estimation no me- 

 thod is equal to that employed by Mr Egan, the pilot of 

 Indian isle. 



" That extraordinary turtler had an iron instrument, 

 which he called a peg, and which at each end had a 

 point not unlike what nail-makers call a brad, it being 

 four-cornered but flattish, and of a shape somewhat re- 

 sembling the beak of an ivory-billed woodpecker, toge- 

 ther with a neck and shoulder. Between the two shoul- 

 ders of this instrument a fine tough line, fifty or more 

 fathoms in length, was fastened, by one end being passed 

 through a hole in the centre of the peg, and the line itself 

 was carefully coiled up and placed in a convenient part 

 of the canoe. One extremity of this peg enters a sheath 

 of iron that loosely attaches it to a long wooden spear, 

 until a turtle has been pierced through the shell by the 

 other extremity. He of the canoe paddles away as 

 silently as possible whenever he spies a turtle basking on 

 the water, until he gets within a distance of ten or twelve 

 yards, when he throws the spear so as to hit the animal 

 about the place which an entomologist would choose, 

 were it a large insect, for pinning it to a piece of cork. 

 As soon as the turtle is struck, the wooden handle sepa- 

 rates from the peg, in consequence of the looseness of 

 its attachment The smart of the wound urges on the 

 animal as if distracted, and it appears that the longer the 

 peg remains in its shell, the more firmly fastened it is, 

 so great a pressure is exercised upon it by the shell of the 

 turtle, which being suffered to run like a whale, soon 

 becomes fatigued, and is secured by hauling in the line 

 with great care. In this manner, as the pilot informed 

 me, eight hundred green turtles were caught by one man 

 in twelve months. 



" Each turtler has his crawl, which is a square wooden 

 building or pen, formed of logs, which are so far separated 

 as to allow the tide to pass freely through and stand 

 erect in the mud. The turtles are placed in this in- 

 closure, fed and kept there until sold. If the animals 

 thus confined have not laid their eggs previous to their 

 seizure, they drop them, in the water, so that they are 

 lost. 



" When I was in the Floridas, several turtlers assured 

 me, that any turtle taken from the depositing ground, 

 and carried on the deck of a vessel several hundred 

 miles, would, if then let loose, certainly be met with at 

 the same spot, either immediately after, or in the follow- 

 ing breeding season. Should this prove true, and it 

 certainly may, how much will be enhanced the belief of 

 the student in the uniformity and solidity of Nature's 

 arrangements, when he finds that the turtle, like a 

 migratory bird, returns to the same locality, with per- 

 haps a delight similar to that experienced by the tra- 

 veller, who, after visiting distant countries, once more 

 returns to the bosom of his cherished family !" 



mough for the animal to take its range ; for 

 f the harpooner should attempt at once to 

 draw the animal into his boat till it is weak- 

 ened by its own struggling, it would probably 



et free. Thus the turtle struggles hard to 

 _et loose, but all in vain ; for they take care 

 the line fastened to the harpoon shall be strong 



nough to hold it. 



There is yet another way, which, though 

 seemingly awkward, is said to be attended 

 with very great success. A good diver places 

 himself at the head of the boat: and when the 

 turtles are observed, which they sometimes 

 are in great numbers, asleep on the surface, 

 he immediately quits the vessel, at about fifty 

 yards distance, and keeping still under water, 

 directs his passage to where the turtle was 

 seen, and, coming up beneath, seizes it by the 

 tail ; the animal awaking struggles to get 

 free ; and by this both are kept at the surface 

 until the boat arrives to take them in. 



CHAP. IV. 



OF THE SHELL OF TESTACEOUS FISHES. 



ONE is apt to combine very dissimilar 

 objects in the same group, when hurried into 

 the vortex of method. No two animals are 

 more unlike each other than the whale and 

 the limpet, the tortoise and the oyster. Yet, 

 as these animals must find some place in the 

 picture of animated nature, it is best to let 

 them rest in the station which the generality 

 of mankind have assigned them ; and as they 

 have been willing to give them all from their 

 abode the name of fishes, it is wisest in us to 

 conform. 



But before I enter into a history of shell- 

 fish, it may not be improper to observe, that 

 naturalists, who have treated on this part of 

 history, have entirely attended to outward 

 forms ; and, as in many other instances, for- 

 saking the description of the animal itself, 

 have exhausted all their industry in describ- 

 ing the habitation. In consequence of this 

 radical error, we have volumes written upon 

 the subject of shells, and very little said on 

 the history of shell-fish. The life of these 

 industrious creatures, that, for the most part, 

 creep along the bottom, or immovably wait 

 till driven as the waves happen to direct, is 

 almost entirely unknown. The wreathing of 

 the shells, or the spots with which they are 

 tinctured, have been described with a most 

 disgusting prolixity ; but their appetites and 

 their combats, their escapes and humble arts 

 of subsistence, have been utterly neglected. 



As I have only undertaken to write the 

 history of animated nature, the variety of 



