TURTLES AND TURTLE-CATCHING 



boat and take up a position on the keel whence nothing 

 can dislodge it, and where it will probably be crushed 

 when the boat is beached. 



The South American Indians, in hunting the fresh- 

 water turtle, still use sometimes the tethered arrow, 

 which is supplied with a movable point ; some account 

 of a similar weapon has been given in Chapter XVII, 

 and a brief description of it will suffice. The harpoon 

 or arrow, which is shot from a short but powerful bow, 

 has an iron head, the base of which fits into a wooden 

 peg, the other end of which is inserted in a hollow at the 

 tip of the shaft. A long coil of stout twine is wound 

 round the arrow, one of its ends fastened to the shaft, 

 the other to the point. The immense strength of the bow 

 causes the arrow-head to pierce the tough shell, and the 

 shock of the concussion liberates the shaft ; the string 

 forty yards of it rapidly uncoils itself and, whether the 

 turtle dives, sinks, or swims away, the shaft is left float- 

 ing. Men are waiting in their canoes and, the moment a 

 turtle is hit, one of them seizes the stick and proceeds to 

 tow the animal ashore, where, if it is not already killed, a 

 blow with a cudgel soon puts an end to it. 



But since tortoise-shell has so greatly increased in 

 value, methods injurious to the shell are seldom used 

 except by sportsmen, and wherever we look nowadays we 

 shall generally see the fishermen trying to take the 

 creature alive, and this may be done in various ways. In 

 the Indian Ocean and the Dutch East Indies, whence 

 some of the finest tortoise-shell is exported, the islanders 

 still follow a plan that is at least a couple of hundred 

 T 289 



