REPTILES, SNAKES AND AMPHIBIANS EATEN AS FOOD. 229 



firm and well tasted, having this advantage over the fat 

 of all other animals, that it is not cloying or disagreeable, 

 but may be eaten alone. The delicacy of the flesh makes 

 it not fit for salting ; but when fresh it is highly nourish- 

 ing, and of so easy a digestion, that, eat ever so much, 

 it never incommodes you, being alike agreeable, dress it 

 which way you will. The best piece is the belly, taking 

 also the shell that covers it with the thickness of two 

 fingers of the meat it contains. This they put in the 

 -oven whole, seasoning with lime-juice, salt, pimento, and 

 •common pepper mixed with cloves, and baked with a 

 slow fire ; it makes an excellent dish." 



In Honduras and Jamaica the flesh of the turtle is cut 

 off in strips and dried in the sun ; that from the back 

 being the calipash, and that from the belly the calipee, 

 of a somewhat lighter colour. Its appearance and con- 

 sistency thus dried is like that of thin cakes of glue, and 

 it requires three or four days soaking in water before it 

 can be made into soup, the processes of drying and soak- 

 ing taking from it nothing of its real nutriment or 

 flavour. 



It is not the largest turtle which are the best for eat- 

 ing. Those of 10 to 25 lbs. are the most esteemed. " In 

 this respect," says Audubon, at the Tortugas, " I could 

 have had one weighing 700 lbs. for very little more than 

 another weighing but 50 lbs. To every person of taste, 

 there is not a meal to be compared to that of a turtle of 

 10 lbs. well dressed." It is said the flesh of the females 

 is preferable to that of the males, but they are generally 

 lean after depositing their eggs. 



The flesh of the turtle is more or less green in dif- 

 ferent localities, and at various stages. Professor Durae- 

 ril distinguishes four varieties of the green or edible 

 iiurtle, according to certain colorations of the shell ; but 

 •these distinctions are not regarded by those who coUect 

 and eat them. 



The English markets are principally supplied with 

 turtles from the West Indies ; about 200 are sent annu- 

 .ally from Honduras ; but the high price of the article 



