TURTLE-CATCHING. 343 



green turtle feeds on a kind of grass, growing at the 

 bottom of the sea, which is appropriately named " turtle- 

 grass." According to Catesby, the inhabitants of the 

 Bahamas are very expert in turtle-catching. In April, 

 they set off in little boats to Cuba, and other neighbour- 

 ing islands, where, in the evening, especially when the 

 moon is up, they watch the reptiles on their journeys to 

 and from the nests, and dexterously turn them on then- 

 backs, in which position they are utterly helpless. Some 

 are so large that it requires three men to turn one of 

 them. 



But the mode in which they are generally taken in the 

 Bahamas is by striking them with a small iron peg, two 

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

 inches in length. Two men usually set out for this work 

 in a little light boat or canoe ; one to row and gently 

 steer the boat, while the other stands at the end of it 

 with his weapon. The turtles are sometimes discovered 

 by their swimming with the head and back out of the 

 water, but they are more frequently found lying at the 

 bottom, a fathom or more deep. If a turtle perceives it 

 is discovered, it starts up to effect its escape ; the men in 

 the boat pursuing it endeavour to keep sight of it, often 

 losing the track, but recovering it again when the prey 

 thrusts its nose out of the water to breathe. 



Green turtles abound in the Gallapagos Islands, which, 

 indeed, owe their name to this very abundance. They 

 were noticed there by the sea-rover Dampier, who con- 

 jectured, from their extraordinary numbers, that five or 

 six hundred men might subsist upon them for several 

 months without any other kind of food. They weighed 

 one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds each, and 



