38o 



AUDUBON 



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Each turtler has his crawl, which is a square wooden 

 buildinjj or pen formed of logs, which are so far separated 

 as to allow the tide to pass freely through, and stand erect 

 in the mud. The Turtles are placed in this enclosure, fed 

 and kept there until sold. If the animals thus confined 

 have not laid their eggs previous to their seizure, they 

 drop them in the water, so that they arc lost. The price 

 of Green Turtles, when I was at Key West, was from four 

 to six cents per pound. 



The loves of the Turtles are conducted in the most 

 extraordinary manner; but as the recital of them must 

 prove out of place here, I shall pass them over. There is, 

 however, a circumstance relating to their habits which I 

 cannot omit, although I have it not from my own ocular 

 evidence, but from report. When I was in the Floridas 

 several of the turtlers assured me that any Turtle taken 

 from the depositing ground, and carried on the deck 

 of a vessel several hundred miles, would, if then let 

 loose, certainly be met with at the same spot, either 

 immediately after, or in the following breeding season. 

 Should this prove true, and it certainly may, how much 

 will be enhanced the belief of the student in the uniformity 

 and solidity of Nature's arrangements, when he finds that 

 the Turtle, like a migratory bird, returns to the same 

 locality, with perhaps a delight similar to that experienced 

 by the traveller, who, after visiting distant countries, once 

 more returns to the bosom of his cherished family. 



THE FORCE OF THE WATERS 



The men who are employed in cutting down the trees, 

 and conveying the logs to the saw-mills or the places for 

 shipping, are, in the State of Maine, called " lumberers." 

 Their labors may be said to be continual. Before winter 

 has commenced, and while the ground is yet uncovered 



