1691.] PRODIGIOUS NUMBERS OF EGGS. 73 



Hundred of them are sav'd. Yet there are such prodigious 

 Numbers, that 'twou'd have amaz'd one if we had not con- 

 sider'd, every Turtle lays two thousand Eggs a year at times, 

 that they have multiply'd thus from the beginning of the 

 World, and perhaps have not met with any Destroyers but 

 our selves. 



Their Eggs are not quite so good to eat, as those of the 

 Land-Turtles, neither is their Elesh so Delicate. They are 

 of the same shape, and the white both of the one and the 

 other cannot without a great deal of difficulty be chang'd ; 

 but in length of time it changes so entirely, that it turns 

 quite yellow.^ The Liver of the Sea-Turtle hath not at all the 

 Tast of that of the Land ; besides, 'tis very unwholsome, it 

 smells offensive like bad OiP : ^Tis Hank, and rises in the 

 Stomach a good while after it is eaten. 



These Animals feed upon Weeds at the bottom of the Sea, 

 and never come a-shoar but to Lay. And I must observe 

 here, en passant, that before that time they couple for nine 

 days together without Disjunction. 



Their Fat remains Liquid when 'tis melted, and tasts 

 Admirably, as well as that of the Land-Turtles. It may be 

 made use of in all sorts of Sauces, either for Elesh or Eish. 



The Turtle is a dull, heavy sort of a Creature.^ It can live 

 without eating a whole Month, provided 'tis discharg'd of the 

 burthen of its Eggs, and you water it from time to time with 

 some Pails of Sea- Water. 



1 In orig. : " et le blauc des uns et des autres ne se cuit que tres 

 difficilemeut; et meme a la longue il se dissipe absolument de sorte qu'il 

 ne reste proprement que le jaune." The translator's rendering of this 

 passage is nonsense. 



^ " Ou une espece de sauvagin," omitted in translation. " Sauvagin" 

 is applied to the smell of whale-blubber. 



3 In original : " La Tortue a le sang froid." This evidently applies 

 to the actual temperature of the blood, and not to the phlegmatic dis- 

 position of the animal, as the translator makes it appear : later on Leguat 

 distinguishes the Lamentin as having hot blood. {Infra, p. 7-i.) 



