186 OUE EEPTILES. 



good deal of company invited to partake of it. 

 A gentleman who was one of the guests told 

 them it was a Mediterranean turtle, and not 

 wholesome j only one of the company eat of it, 

 and it almost killed him, being seized with a 

 dreadful vomiting and purging." 



The introduction of the Green Turtle to this 

 country as an article of food is of comparatively 

 recent date, probably not much exceeding a 

 century, and it is still confined to a limited circle 

 of admirers. The plebeian eye may gaze with 

 longing on " turbot," but does not so often flash 

 with desire for turtle soup. The green fat is an 

 aristocratic delicacy, a taste for which is acquired 

 best by means of an aldermanic gown. 



Of the Sea Turtles the most in request, says 

 Catesby, is the Green Turtle, which is esteemed 

 a most wholesome and delicious food. It receives 

 its name from the fat, which is of a green colour. 

 Sir Hans Sloane informs us, in his " History of 

 Jamaica/' that forty sloops are employed by the 

 inhabitants of Port Eoyal, in Jamaica, for catch- 

 ing them. The markets are there supplied with 

 turtle as ours are with butcher's meat. The 

 Bahamians carry many of them to Carolina, 

 where they turn to good account, not because 

 that plentiful country wants provisions, but 

 they are esteemed there as a rarity, and for the 

 delicacy of their flesh. They feed on a kind of 



