198 SPOKT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



sir, for I must be only boring you with my non- 

 sense." 



"Indeed you are not, my dear Mr. Downing," 

 said I, examining the pair of turtle-shells against 

 the wall; " I beg you will go on." 



"■ The green turtle," added the fisherman, " has 

 a greener shell than any other kind, and that's why 

 he's called as he is. They are the largest of all, and 

 sometimes weigh as much as six hundred and eight 

 hundred pounds. These only weighed three hun- 

 dred and eighty and three hundred and ninety-nine 

 pounds ; but their regular shape and the transparent 

 quality of the shell made me pick them out of twenty 

 which we caught in one day's fishing at Hetera, 

 and so I kept 'em, in spite of Mrs. Downing, who 

 was alive then — God rest her soul ! I kept them, 

 and cooked them myself, and they made the best 

 turtle-soup I ever ate in my life. But I hope I 

 don't weary you, sir ? " 



I assured him that he did not, and he continued. 

 " The green turtle feeds on a kind of weed which 

 grows in the sea, in four, five, or six fathom deep 

 of water. This plant has a pleasant taste, and its 

 leaves are delicate, and a quarter of an inch broad, 

 by six inches in length.* It is to this peculiar food 



* Marine turtles usually feed upon fucoids, hydrophytes, molluscs, 

 and the different species of algce with which the bottom of the sea is 

 carpeted. They may be seen in troops (just like shoals of mackerel or 

 herring) coming to feed on their favourite spots, at regular hours, 

 morning and evening. 



