Turtle-turning 



was this. She employed her hind paddles 

 alternately, and when one lifted up its load of 

 sand, the other, with a spasmodic flick, would 

 scatter the previous handful broadcast. I was 

 so close to her that the sand hit me in the face 

 with quite an appreciable sting. 



I now retreated, for I could see no more, since 

 my turtle had delved a hole directly behind her, 

 and rejoined my companion to await the time 

 when our quarry should have deposited her eggs. 



I dug up some of the eggs to look at them 

 they are soft-shelled, white in colour, and in 

 size nearly as large as a tennis-ball. A turtle, 

 having laid a complement of eggs, covers them 

 with sand, trusting to the heat of the sun to 

 hatch out the young, who, on reaching the sea, 

 have a precarious enough time of it, for their 

 enemies are waiting to devour them in the water, 

 whilst the gulls do likewise as the small turtles 

 hurry over the sand to the water. A small 

 percentage, therefore, arrive at maturity, when 

 they attain an approximate weight of five hun- 

 dred pounds. 



Next morning we signalled to the station with 

 a semaphore, saying we had been successful in 

 our catch, whereon a small steamboat arrived 

 to bring the turtles in. The method of getting 

 them on board was as simple as it was effective. 

 To the centre of the fin ropes, now slackened, 

 but not taken off, a long thin line was attached, 



67 



