THE TURTLE. 



843 



ferent eating ; but the shell serves for the 

 most valuable purposes. This is the animal 

 that supplies the tortoise-shell, of which such 

 a variety of beautiful trinkets are made. The 

 substance of which the.shells of other turtle 

 are composed is thin and porous ; but that of 

 the hawksbill is firm, and when polished, is 

 beautifully marbled. They generally carry 

 about three pounds ; but the largest of all, six 

 pounds. The shell consists, as in all the kind, 

 of thirteen leaves or plates, of which eight are 

 flat, and five hollow. They are raised and 

 taken off by means of fire, which is made 

 under the shell after the flesh is taken out. 

 As soon as the heat affects the leaves, they 

 start from the ribs, and are easily raised with 

 the point of a knife. By being scraped and 

 polished on both sides, they become beauti- 

 fully transparent, or are easily cast into what 

 form the workman thinks proper, by making 

 them soft and pliant in warm water, and then 

 screwing them in a mould, like a medal: 

 however, the shell is most beautiful before 

 it undergoes this last operation. 



But of all animals of the tortoise kind, 

 the Green Turtle 1 is the most noted and the 



skin. The animal is said not to show much uneasiness 

 during the operation, and when that is performed it is 

 returned into the sea, where, after a time, the plates are 

 said to be reproduced. That is by no means unlikely, 

 as the reproduction of parts is not uncommon among 

 reptiles, any more than among some of the Crustacea, 

 which have at least some analogy with the reptiles. 



The hawksbill, or shell turtle, is much more widely 

 diffused than the green turtle. It is found in almost all 

 the tropical seas ; being peculiarly abundant in the shal- 

 lows near Belese, the chief settlement in the mahogany 

 country of Honduras. It is indeed general in the 

 Caribbean sea ; and is found browsing on its favourite 

 sea weed, wherever that abounds in latitudes sufficiently 

 warm. It is also plentiful on the shores of tropical 

 Africa, on those of New Holland, and in the Indian 

 ocean. Tortoise-shell is thus so abundant, that though 

 it has been a favourite article of luxury from very early 

 times, the supply is still undiminished. 



1 The Green Turtle. The Green turtle, of which we 

 hear so much as a luxury at the tables of the rich, is a 

 native of the seas in the warm and tropical parts of the 

 world ; and instead of being considered as a rarity or a 



dainty there, it is so abundant, that the flesh of it is sold 

 cheaper than that of any land animal. The tropical 

 shores of America, both on the Atlantic and the Pacific 

 side, the tropical shores of Africa, and those of New 

 Holland, are the favourite hauuts of the turtle. These 

 animals prefer lonely places, and thus they are much 

 more plentiful on desert shores and about little barren 

 islands, than they are on those of fertile countries. The 

 little isles called the Alligator isles, in the West Indian 



most valuable. The delicacy of its flesh, and its 

 nutritive qualities, together with the property 

 of being easily digested, were, for above a 

 century, known only to our seamen, and the 

 inhabitants of the coasts where they were taken. 

 It was not till by slow degrees the distinction 

 came to be made between such as were malig- 

 nant and such as were wholesome. The con- 

 troversies and contradictions of our old travel- 

 lers were numerous upon this head : some as- 

 serting, that the turtle was delicious food ; and 

 others, that it was actual pojson. Dampier, 

 that rough seaman, who has added more to 

 natural history than half of the philosophers 

 that went before him, appears to be the first 

 who informed us of their distinctions ; and 

 that, while the rest might be valuable for 

 other purposes, the green turtle alone was 

 chiefly prized for the delicacy of its flesh. He 

 never imagined, however, that this animal 

 would make its way to the luxurious tables of 

 Europe ; for he seems chiefly to recommend 

 it as salted up for ship's provision, in case of 

 necessity. 



At present the turtle is very well known 

 among us, and is become the favourite food of 

 those that are desirous of eating a great deal 

 without the danger of surfeiting. This is a 



sea ; the barren volcanic rocks of the Gallipagos in the 

 Pacific ; the island of Ascension, in the Atlantic, and 

 the northern shores of New Holland, which are gener- 

 ally speaking, dreary and barren, abound more with them 

 than any other parts of the world. The green turtle 

 attains an enormous size and^weight; some individuals 

 measuring six or seven feet in length from the tip of the 

 nose to the extremity of the tail, by three or four feet 

 broad, and weighing as much as eight hundred pounds. 

 The more common weight, however, is from two to three 

 hundred pounds. 



The instinct which leads the female turtle to the shore 

 to lay her eggs, exposes her to the danger of becoming 

 the prey of man. She deposits her eggs on the loose 

 sand, and abandons them at once to the chance, which 

 approaches almost to a certainty in the southern hemi- 

 sphere, that they will be hatched by the influence of the 

 sun's rays. She digs, by means of her fore-feet, one or 

 more holes about a foot wide and two feet deep, in which 

 she usually deposits more than a hundred eggs. These 

 eggs are round, and are two or three inches in diameter; 

 they are covered with a membrane something like wet 

 parchment. The female generally lays three times in 

 each year, at intervals of about a fortnight or three 

 weeks. They almost always go ashore in the night 

 time. A loose sand beiV? essential to the hatching 

 of the eggs, the turtles frequent only particular shores ; 

 but these are often several hundred miles from their 

 feeding places. The eggs are hatched in less than 

 a month after they are laid; and in about eight or 

 ten days the young reptiles crawl to the water. Few 

 however, reach their native element, in proportion to 

 the number produced. They become the prey of sea- 

 fowl and various quadrupeds of prey. The tiger is an 

 especial enemy to the tortoise ; but man is still more 

 actively engaged in their destruction. The collection of 

 tortoise eggs forms one of the most important of the 

 occupations of the Indians of the Orinoco. Humboldt 

 gives an interesting account of this branch of commerce. 



