Parasites, Diseases and Enemies. 275 



The large, soft-shelled turtles of the Great Lake re- 

 gion and the South are also savage fellows. A young 

 man who was fishing near me in the Pamunky River, 

 and using strong tackle, pulled in one of these critters 

 and held it up to show me. Soon he yelled for help, 

 and I rowed over to him and found the turtle fast to 

 his shoe and biting his foot. He was in too much agony 

 to help himself, and I did not know what to do. The 

 first impulse was to seize the long neck and shut off the 

 turtle's wind; as I did this I realized that it could do 

 without breathing for an hour or two, and all the while 

 the man was in agony with the cruel beak forcing itself 

 through the thin upper of his shoe and into his foot. 

 On the seat beyond him lay one of those strong dirk- 

 knives which are sold to would-be sportsmen as ''hunt- 

 ing knives." Fortunately it was sharp, as well as 

 strong, and the way I vivisected the lower jaw out of 

 that turtle took ? 1 1 my strength, and would have won 

 applause from the cruelty society. The young man 

 fainted at the finish, but a little water and fanning 

 brought him around. When his shoe was removed 

 there was much blood in it, and on taking off his stock- 

 ing I found that the little toe was nearly severed, and 

 the next one was injured. I bound up his foot in his 

 handkerchief and towed his boat to White House land- 

 ing, where he had friends. He lost one toe, however. 

 He said that the turtle had swallowed the hook, and 

 he had cut the line to let him have it, when the turtle 

 began running around to escape, and he kicked at it. 

 "Well.'' said I, "you keep that hunting knife as a re- 

 minder, not only of the loss of your toe, but as the first 

 instance known where such a knife was found to be 

 useful*' 



Passing from turtles, which are truly dangerous, 



