TURTLES AND TURTLE-CATCHING 



The Javanese and the islanders of Keeling and the 

 Celebes still eat this turtle, and are content to kill it 

 before removing the shell. They most often hunt it in 

 shallow water, either from canoes or by wading; the 

 turtles are brought ashore, killed by blows, and then 

 immersed in boiling water till the plates are loosened. 



The hawkVbill is scarcely one of the giants, for it 

 rarely weighs more than about two hundred pounds. 

 Although, as we have said, its flesh is hardly eatable, it 

 produces the best tortoise-shell in the world ; it may be 

 found throughout the Indian Ocean and in the tropical 

 parts of the Atlantic and Pacific, some of the finest 

 coming from New Guinea. The head is of a curious 

 bird-like shape, whence its name. 



The carapace, or upper shell, of this turtle is made 

 up of thirteen plates arranged in three longitudinal rows, 

 five in the middle and four on either side, the largest 

 of which would weigh about half a pound and measure 

 thirteen inches by eight. These are the valuable portions 

 of the shell. In addition the animal has twenty-four 

 " hoofs " or small plates, which form the serrated margin 

 round the carapace ; but these, like the under shell, are 

 of comparatively little value. 



Another way of catching the turtle alive is by means 

 of a kind of seine-net ; this is the method that, among 

 the Gauchos and South American Indians, has almost 

 entirely superseded the old one of shooting or harpooning. 

 Generally it is only employed for the capture of the fresh- 

 water species, but it may sometimes be seen in use among 

 the negroes of the Bahamas, who work it from the seashore. 



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