244 CAPTURING THE TURTLE. 



But the size mentioned by the ancient writers is of a fabu- 

 lous character. However, it sometimes attains a weight of 

 between seventy and ninety pounds. It is now chiefly 

 obtained by beam-trawling, a triangular purse-shaped net 

 about seventy feet long, usually having a breadth of about 

 forty feet at the mouth, and gradually diminishing to the 

 end of the net, Avhich is about ten feet long, and of nearly 

 uniform breadth. The turbot is of all the flat fishes the most 

 valuable. The Brill belongs to the same tribe, as well as 

 other less important fishes. The turbot is shorter, broader, 

 and deeper than almost any other kind of flat fish. It gen- 

 erally keeps close to the bottom of the sea, and is found 

 chiefly on banks wdiere there is a considerable depth of 

 water. Some of the banks in the German Ocean abound in 

 turbots, as the Doggerbank, and yield great quantities to the 

 London market. 



In proportion to the benefits derived from the spoils of 

 the Turtle, the shell of which is so ornamental and useful in 

 the arts, the ingenuity of man has been sharpened by his 

 eagerness to acquire them. The modes by which the peo- 

 ple of Celebes take them are by the harpoon and the net, or 

 by falling on the females when they resort to the strand to 

 lay their eggs. The turtle is turned on its back, when, 

 unable to turn again, it lies helpless. It sometimes also falls 

 into the hands of the dwellers on the coast through means 

 of their fishing-stakes, into which it enters like the fish, and 

 from which it can find no outlet. It is then killed and 

 robbed of its upper shield ; but, as the shells adhere fast to 

 each other, and would be injured by being torn ofi*, the usual 

 plan is to wait a few days, by which time the soft parts 

 become decomposed, and the shells are removed with little 

 trouble. When the turtles lie floating on the sea either for 

 the purpose of sleep or respiration, the fishermen approach 

 them quietly with a sharp harpoon, carrying a ring at the 

 butt-end, to which a cord is attached. The harpooner strikes. 



