SEA TURTLES. 137 



Several large and valuable kinds of sea turtles are found in the 

 Bahama waters^ as was evidenced by tiie bountiful supply of ex- 

 cellent turtle soups and turtle steaks often seen upon the dining 

 room tables of the Royal Victoria Hotel. Tlie Hawk's Bill tur- 

 tle yields the beautiful tortoise shell that figures so 2'»rominently in 

 ladies' toilets. The shells of the Green, and also of the Yellow 

 or Mulatto turtles, are said to be in lamina too thin for practical 

 use. Tlie name " Green Turtle '' we suppose was given them on 

 account of the green color of the fat under their shells. Turtle 

 steak is very light colored, and looks and tastes like the tender 

 meat of a chicken. Stepping upon a platform adjoining a Nas- 

 sau dock, we looked down through a trap door into a crawl which 

 contained a large number of sea turtles, varying in weight we 

 should tliink, from fifty to one hundred or more pounds. The 

 shells of some of them at least, equalled in size the one the poet 

 Wadsworth thus very unpoetically describes: 



" The shell of a green turtle, thin 

 And hollow; you might sit therein 

 It was so wide and deep." 



We observed them with much interest. They appeared con- 

 tented and happy although somewhat restless. Our first impres- 

 sion was that they were either holding a mass meeting or a 

 sociable. Then we queried whether they had not come to Nassau 

 on a marooning excursion. But they were so dignified and 

 solemn, and seemed so loaded down with a heavy weight of cares, 

 we finally concluded tliey were holding a session of the sub-marine 

 reptilian "Parliament." That they were loyal and patriotic 

 may be inferred from the fact that they were soon to lose their 

 lives for the public good. Turtles and turtle shells are ex- 

 ported from the Bahamas of the annual value of from three 

 thousand to four thousand dollars. It is said that the sea turtle 



