124 The Turtle 



them into the vicinity of food to be obtained without 

 effort. Carefully he welds a ring round their tails in 

 such wise that it cannot be pulled off, and to it he 

 attaches a thin, strong line ; then, putting out to sea 

 with six or seven of his unwilling helpers attached to 

 the bottom of his sampan, he gets a good offing, and 

 waits patiently for the appearance of a Turtle asleep 

 upon the sea. As soon as his keen eyes have detected 

 one, he paddles noiselessly in that direction until, 

 getting near enough, he ships his paddle and, with a long 

 bamboo, pushes off one or two or more of his Remorae. 

 Now all he needs to do is to keep them from fastening 

 on to the canoe again, for they speedily discover the 

 Turtle and attach themselves to him. When they have 

 done so, the quaint yellow fisherman in the boat needs 

 but to haul in, for you may, by pulling upon a Remorae 

 from aft, tear him in two pieces, but you cannot make 

 him let go his hold. And so despite his struggles, the 

 poor turtle must come, and presently yield himself to 

 be made soup of for the delectation of some ' number 

 one ' mandarin. This is also the method pursued by 

 some of the coast tribes of Eastern Africa, whose 

 appearance would seem to give the lie to any suggestion 

 of such a standard of intelligence as would utilise the 

 Remorae in so ingenious a way. 



Our method, if I may call it so, of capturing the 

 Turtle is much less elaborate. Certain places are known 

 to be favourite haunts of the Turtle for egg-laying 

 purposes. Then all that is necessary is some safe 

 reservoir where the captured creatures may be kept 

 awaiting shipment, and a band of labourers who do not 

 object to night-work. When there is a good moon, 

 not necessarily full, we hide ourselves in convenient 

 quarters adjacent to the beach, and wait more or less 

 patiently until we see the first broad back, gUstening in 



