284 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



three feet from side to side. A turtle of this size would weigh 

 six or seven hundred pounds. 



These creatures are captured in two ways. 



Sometimes they are taken by means of a long spear, called a 

 "harpoon". The head of this weapon is not fixed to the handle, 

 but merely slips into a socket at one end ; and the two are fastened 

 together only by a cord. The hunters row out in a small boat, 

 and, when they catch sight of a turtle, give chase, and plunge 

 the harpoon into its shell. The frightened animal dashes swiftly 

 away, and tries hard to shake itself free of the weapon. If the 

 harpoon were just an ordinary spear it would probably succeed, 

 but as it is barbed that is almost impossible. The turtle swims 

 rapidly away from its pursuers; but the handle of the harpoon 

 floats and hinders its movements and prevents it from diving. 

 And before long the exhausted animal is overtaken and lifted into 

 the boat. 



But more often the turtles are captured at night, when they 

 leave the sea and crawl up to the shore above high-water mark to 

 lay their eggs. The hunters are on the watch, and, as soon as 

 a turtle is far enough away from the water, they run up to it and 

 turn it over upon its back. Sometimes the animal is so big that 

 they cannot do this with their hands alone, but are obliged to use 

 long poles as levers. Now when once it is overturned a turtle 

 cannot escape, for its legs are not long enough even to touch the 

 ground, and there it has to lie until the hunters come and carry 

 it off to their boat. 



When a turtle lays her eggs she scrapes a hole in the sand 

 with her hind flippers. When she has dug down to a depth of 

 from eighteen inches to two feet, she drops in her eggs, which 

 are often nearly two hundred in number, and carefully arranges 

 them side by side in regular rows. As soon as all are in position 

 she collects the scattered sand, fills in the hole, and smooths the 

 surface so neatly that it is not easy to see that it has been disturbed. 

 And then she leaves them to be hatched out by the heat of the 

 sun. 



In about three weeks the little turtles appear, and at once 

 make their way towards the sea. But numbers of enemies (birds 



