Giant Fish of Florida 



Though its reputation is deservedly less than that of its green 

 relative, the loggerhead nevertheless makes excellent soup, but 

 you have to dress your own turtle if you want to utilise it in 

 this way. The first thing is to kill it, and killing a turtle is 

 easier to write than to do. Its head must be cut off at any 

 cost, and the particular cost to avoid is having your fingers 

 nipped off. Always bear in mind that the shell is a very 

 important part of the skeleton ; the ribs and neck are firmly 

 joined to it. The big bones fore and aft, as well as the 

 shoulder blades and pelvis, are separate ; otherwise all the 

 solid parts and the shell are one. I am not desiring to discourse 

 on the anatomy of the turtle, but this unity with the shell is 

 worth remembering by any one attempting to remove the head. 



To get at the turtle's best meat you have to cut round the 

 margin of the under plates and lift up the lid. Even then, 

 unless you have some experience of the composition of the 

 animal, it is by no means easy to be sure that you have struck 

 the liver, and not some other part that you do not want. A 

 turtle is one of those creatures that do not seem nearly dead 

 when you have killed them. When the turtles are pairing, by 

 the way, nothing will drive them from each other's company, 

 and there can under the circumstances be no possible sport or 

 advantage in killing them, particularly as the male is then unfit 

 for food. 



Such are some of the fruits of harpooning. It will be found 

 a pleasant change, exercising a new combination of the senses 



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