Giant Fish of Florida 
and muscles, and requiring some skill; but it is, of course, 
only a bastard form of sport, and is usually resorted to on 
days when the tarpon will not feed, or the tide is too strong 
for fishing. The turtle is the only useful animal taken on that 
coast by such means, and there is this excuse for harpooning 
your turtle that you cannot get them in any other way. The 
turtle’s cousin on land, the gophir tortoise, which is common 
enough in those parts, is said to be taken in a very curious way, 
though, as the animal is useless, few put it to the test. This 
tortoise lives in underground burrows, not unlike rabbit earths, 
and its abundance may be judged by the number of such 
burrows. Into these the natives say they drop a ball attached 
to a string, a sudden intrusion that infuriates the occupant of 
the burrow, who, in his slow and sure fashion, pursues it into 
daylight, and is then easily secured. I hand on the story for 
what the cautious reader may think it worth. Personally, I am 
not much inclined, from my limited knowledge of reptile 
habits, to credit it. . 
The turtles come ashore in the warm May nights to lay 
their eggs, and the female, as soon as she touches land, 
raises her head and peers cautiously around to see that the 
coast is clear. Satisfied on this point, she scrambles on to the 
dry sand and above high-water mark, scrapes a hole and 
therein deposits her eggs, covers them up, and returns to the 
sea. Three sittings she will lay each season, and many a 
banquet is thus provided for racoons. It is at this laying 
TIT 
