Giant Fish of Florida 



season that so many turtles are procured for the market, and 

 many a loggerhead finds its way into the real green turtle soup. 

 In their wanderings below the surface they not infrequently 

 get foul of a line, but, so hard is their skin, that the hook 

 seldom penetrates. Some idea of the toughness of the skin 

 may be formed when it is mentioned that even the strongest 

 men can with difficulty pierce it with a gaff. When they chance 

 to foul a line they are generally played for about half an hour, 

 after which they show once and then go free. On one occasion 

 the harpooner of the party slowly and cautiously approached a 

 basking loggerhead, his right arm poised, his weapon ready to 

 strike. Then, slowly, it was lowered ; the turtle must have 

 been dead at least a week. Yells of laughter greeted his dis- 

 covery, for the decaying reptile had drifted down the whole 

 line of boats, reaching him the last, and had even deceived one 

 or two of their inmates into fetching out their gaffs. 



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