346 TURTLE IN CEYLON. 



turned in a single night ; but, of late years, the supply 

 has been less abundant. 



According to Sir James, no ships' crews are ever 

 allowed to turn turtle, which has been converted into a 

 Government monopoly ; and two pounds ten shillings is 

 the fixed price for each. Strange to say, from the time 

 that the young turtles, the size of a dollar, are observed 

 scuttling down to the water, they are never seen again 

 until they are four or five hundred pounds weight ; and 

 how long they take to attain this great size, and where 

 they spend the intermediate time, is as yet a mystery. 



The turtles are kept in the ponds for a year and up- 

 wards without a morsel of food of any kind. 



The edible turtle of the East Indies is the Chelonia vir- 

 gata. It is found on all the coasts of Ceylon, and sells 

 for a few shillings or a few pence, according to its size and 

 the extent of the supply and demand. In the Gulf of 

 Manaar some very large specimens, frequently measuring 

 three or four feet in length, are met with. Sir Emerson 

 Tennent records that on one occasion, as he rode along 

 the sea-shore, he saw a man in charge of some sheep, rest- 

 ing under the shade of a turtle shell, which he had erected 

 upon sticks to protect him from the sun ! * thus almost 

 verifying the statement of ^Elian, that in the seas off Cey- 

 lon there are tortoises of such a size, that several persons 

 might find ample shelter beneath a single shell ! 



The same authority notes that a very repulsive 

 spectacle is exhibited in the markets of Jaffna by the 

 mode in which the flesh of the turtle is sold piece-meal, 

 whilst the animal is still alive, by the families of the 



* Sir Emerson Tennent, "Natural History of Ceylon," p. 293. 



