690 



REPTILIA- TURTLE. 



One of these animals was taken in the year 1729, at the mouth of the Loire, 

 in France, in nets that were not designed for so large a capture. This tur- 

 tle, Avhich was of enormous strength, by its own struggles, involved itself 

 in the nets in such a manner as to be incapable of doing mischief : yet, 

 even thus shackled, it appeared terrible to the fishermen, who were at first 

 for flying ; but, finding it impotent, they gathered courage to drag it on shore, 

 where it made a most horrible bellowing ; and when they began to knock 

 it on the head with their gaffs, it was to be heard at half a mile's distance. 

 They Avere still further intimidated by its nauseous and pestilential breath, 

 which so powerfully affected theni that they were near fainting. This 

 animal wanted but four inches of being eight feet long, and was about two 

 feet over; its shell more resembled leather than the shell of a tortoise ; and 

 unlike all other animals of this kind, it Avas furnished with teeth in each 

 jaw, one rank behind another, like those of a shark; its feet also, different 

 from the rest of this kind, wanted claws ; and the tail was quite disengaged 

 from the shell, and fifteen inches long, more resembling that of a quadruped 

 than a tortoise. 



These are a formidable and useless kind, if compared to the turtle caught 

 in the South seas and the Indian ocean. These are of different kinds; not 

 only unlike each other in form, but furnishing man with very different ad- 

 vantages. They are usually distinguished by sailors into four kinds ; the 

 trunk turtle, the loggerhead, the hawksbill, and the green turtle. 



THE HAWKSBILL, OR IMBRICATED TURTLE, i 





Is the least of the four, and has a long and small mouth, somewhat resem- 

 bling the bill of a hawk. The flesh of this, also, is very indifferent eating; 

 but the shell serves for the most valuable purposes. This is the animal that 

 supplies the tortoise shell, of which such a variety of beautiful trinkets are 

 made. 



^ Chelonia imbricata, Cuv. 



