188 OUR REPTILES. 



his escape, the men in the boat pursuing him, 

 endeavouring to keep sight of him, which they 

 often lose, and recover again by the Turtle 

 putting his nose out of the water to breathe ; 

 thus they pursue him, one paddling or rowing, 

 while the other stands ready with his striker. It 

 is sometimes half an hour before he is tired; 

 then he sinks at once to the bottom, which gives 

 them an opportunity of striking him, which is 

 by piercing him with an iron peg which slips out 

 of the socket, but is fastened with a string to 

 the pole. If he is spent and tired by being long 

 pursued, he tamely submits, when struck, to be 

 taken into the boat or hauled ashore. There are 

 men who by diving will get on their backs, and 

 by pressing down their hind parts, and raising 

 the fore parts of them by force, bring them to 

 the top of the water, while another slips a noose 

 about their necks.* 



To return to the more immediate subject of 

 this chapter, it is supposed that the Leathery 

 Turtle was the species which supplied Mercury 

 with its back shell, to which he applied strings, 

 and thus extemporized the first lyre, which was 

 the prototype of all stringed musical instruments. 

 The seven dorsal ridges to which we have alluded 

 strengthened this supposition ; the ancient lyre 



* Catesb/s " Natural History of Carolina." 



