230 ANIMAL FOOD KESOUECES OF DIFFEEENT NATIONS. 



would seem to indicate either that the natural supplies 

 are not equal to the demand, or that the methods adopted 

 for catching and sending over the produce, are not of 

 the most economical kind. The iurtles from which' 

 the highly-prized soup is made are sent over to this 

 country in three different ways: either alive, or sun- 

 dried, or preserved in tins like the Australian tinned 

 meats. In all three branches the industry is capable ot 

 great extension, not only in the West Indies, but in Fiji, 

 North Australia, and probably in other of our tropical 

 or sub-tropical colonies. The market price of sun-dried 

 Jamaica turtle is about 8s. per lb., while a tin of pre- 

 served fat costs 4s. or 5s., and a small tin of soup ready 

 for consumption as much as half a guinea. These prices^- 

 must be very remunerative to either the producer or the 

 middleman. Considering the little difficulty there is in 

 catching these reptiles, which have only to be turned on 

 their backs as they come to the surface or reach the 

 shore, and considering the numbers in which they exist 

 on the submarine plateaux off the shores of the numerous - 

 islands and continents within the tropics, the supply of 

 turtles ought to be both regular and abundant ; while as 

 they may be kept alive for a long time with nothing to- 

 eat and without requiring any great attention, no branch 

 of the fishing industry could well be more profitable. 



Turtles are getting scarce in the Indian seas. They 

 should be protected more than they are. Colonel Dove- 

 ton, in his " History of the Burmese War," states when 

 scurvy broke out among the troops, a ship was sent ex- 

 pressly to Diamond Island, at the mouth of the Bassan 

 Kiver, Pegu, for a cargo of live turtle : — " The flesh was 

 served out to the troops by the commissariat by the- 

 pound, as beef or pork. We usually dressed it like a 

 beef-steak, which it much resembled, both in taste and 

 appearance. What fell to my share was wanting neither 

 in eggs nor green fat, though I suspect these dainty 

 adjuncts were not duly appreciated by many of us, in 

 the absence of those condiments so requisite for serving ■ 

 up the dish in the true aldermanic style." Ten years ■ 



