EPISODES 



379 



These nets are formed of very large meshes, into which 

 the Turtles partially enter, when, the more they attempt 

 to extricate themselves, the more they get entangled. 

 Others harpoon them in the usual manner; but in my 

 estimation no method is equal to that employed by Mr. 

 Egan, the pilot of Indian Isle. 



That extraordinary turtlcr had an iron instrument 

 which he called a peg^ and which at each end had a point 

 not unlike what nail-makers call a brad, it being four- 

 cornered but flattish, and of a shape somewhat resem- 

 bling the beak of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, together 

 with a neck and shoulder. Between the two shoulders 

 of this instrument a fine tough-line, fifty or more fathoms 

 in length, was fastened by one end being passed through 

 a hole in the centre of the peg and the line itself was 

 carefully coiled up, and placed in a convenient part of the 

 canoe. One extremity of this peg enters a sheath of iron 

 that loosely attaches it to a long wooden spear, until 

 a Turtle has been pierced through the shell by the other 

 extremity. He of the canoe paddles away as silently 

 as possible whenever he spies a Turtle basking on the 

 water, until he gets within a distance of ten or twelve 

 yards, when he throws the spear so as to hit the animal 

 about the place which an entomologist would choose, 

 were it a large insect, for pinning it to a piece of cork. 

 As soon as the Turtle is struck, the wooden handle separ- 

 ates from the peg, in consequence of the looseness of its 

 attachment. The smart of the wound urges on the 

 animal as if distracted, and it appears that the longer 

 the peg remains in its shell, the more firmly fastened it 

 is, so great a pressure is exercised upon it by the shell of 

 the Turtle, which, being suffered to run like a whale, soon 

 becomes fatigued, and is secured by hauling in the line 

 with great care. In this manner, as the pilot informed 

 me, eight hundred Green Turtles were caught by one man 

 in twelve months. 



