328 THE TKOPICAL WORLD. 



to the attacks of many ravenous beasts, from the wild dog to 

 the tiger or jaguar ; storks, herons, and other strand- or sea-birds 

 devour thousands upon thousands of the young before they 

 reach the ocean, where sharks and other greedy fishes still 

 further thin their ranks, so that but very few escape from the 

 general massacre, and the whole race pan only maintain itself 

 by its great fecundity. 



Of all the foes of the turtle-tribe there is, however, none 

 more formidable than man, as even on the most lonely islands 

 the seafarer lies in wait for them, eager to relieve the monotony 

 of his coarse fare by an abundant supply of their luscious flesh. 

 On the isle of Ascension, the head- quarters of the finest 

 turtle in the world, all the movements of the poor creatures 

 are carefully watched, and when, after having deposited their 

 eggs in the sand, they waddle again towards the sea, their re- 

 treat is often intercepted, for two stout hands running up to 

 the unfortunate turtle after the completion of her task, one 

 seizes a fore-flipper and dexterously shoves it under her belly 

 to serve as a pm*chase; whilst the other, avoiding a stroke which 

 might lame him, cants her over on her back, where she lies 

 helpless. From fifteen to thirty are thus turned in a night. 

 In the bays, when the surf or heavy rollers prevent the boats 

 being beached to take on board the turtles when caught, they 

 are hauled out to them by ropes. 



In former times, as long as the island had neither master nor 

 inhabitants, every ship's crew that landed helped itself to as 

 many turtles as it could catch ; but since England has taken 

 possession of the island, turtle-turning has been converted into 

 a Grovernment monopoly. They are kept in two large en- 

 closures near the sea, which flows in and out, through a break- 

 water of large stones. A gallows is erected between the two 

 ponds, where the turtles are slaughtered for shipping, by sus- 

 pending them by the hind-flippers and then cutting their 

 throats. Often above 300 turtles, of 400 lbs. and 500 lbs. 

 each, are lying on the sand or swimming about in the ponds — 

 a fine sight for an alderman. 



The way by which the turtles are most commonly taken at 

 the Bahama Islands is by striking them with a small iron peg 

 of two inches long, put in a socket at the end of a staff of twelve 

 feet long. Two men usually set out for this work in a canoe, 



