EEPTILES, SNAKES AND AMPHIBIANS EATEN AS FOOD. 225 



Dr. Browne, in his " History of Jamaica," speaking of 

 the turtle, says, " it is delicate, tender food while young, 

 but as it grows old it becomes more tough and gristly, 

 and is not so agreeable to the stomach in those warm 

 countries; the juices, however, are generally reckoned 

 great restoratives, and often observed to heal and smooth 

 the skin in scorbutic and leprous habits ; nay, it is said 

 to cure even the most obstinate venereal taints." 



In Portugal, syphilitic patients are often sent to the 

 Cape Verde Isles to be cured by feeding on turtle flesh. 



The flesh of the green turtle is eaten in the West 

 India Islands generally, in all the maritime cities of the 

 United States, Brazil and Peru, in England, in Africa, 

 the Gape Verde Islands, and among the natives who 

 inhabit the Western Coasts of Africa, Guinea, and Congo, 

 the islands of Mauritius and Reunion in the Indian 

 Ocean, at the English Presidencies of India, Java, and in 

 Australia. There is not a four-footed animal, a voyager 

 tells us, the flesh of which the Japanese esteem like that 

 of the kecame or turtle. 



The flesh of the turtle is thus, we find, a universal 

 food, if we except some of the States of Europe, which 

 do not seem to appreciate it as a delicacy. I may add 

 that this has been so in all ages. Diodorus of Sicily, 

 Pliny, and Strabo speak of it. The former named' 

 " Chelonophages " certain people inhabiting islands at 

 the entry of the Red Sea, whose principal occupation 

 was catching turtle. 



There are in the turtle two pieces of flesh very white, 

 compared to knuckles of veal. It may be larded and 

 made into fricandeaux and pates, equal to those of Rouen 

 or Pontoise. Every part of the flesh is edible. The bones 

 being easily saturated with the gravy, are left in the 

 ragouts which are made, and the fat, which is very fluid, 

 serves instead of butter or lard. The two most choice 

 preparations of the turtle in the West Indies are the soup 

 and the boucan or plastron. The soup made there is 

 flavoured with sherry, and seasoned with strong spices, 

 capsicums, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. It is considered 



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