“BEA TURTLES. BY 
Several large and valuable kinds of sea turtles are found in the 
Bahama waters, as was evidenced by the bountiful supply of ex- 
cellent turtle soups and turtle steaks often seen upon the dining 
room tables of the Royal Victoria Hotel. The Hawk’s Bill tur- 
tle yields the beautiful tortoise shell that figures so prominently in 
ladies’ toilets. The shells of the Green, and also of the Yellow 
or Mulatto turtles, are said to be in lamina too thin for practical 
use. The name ‘‘Green Turtle” we suppose was given them on 
account of the green color of the fat under their shells. Turtle 
steak is very light colored, and looks and tastes like the tender 
meat of achicken. Stepping upon a platform adjoining a Nas- 
sau dock, we looked down through a trap door into a crawl which 
contained a large number of sea turtles, varying in weight we 
should think, from fifty to one hundred or more pounds. The 
shells of some of them at least, equalled in size the one the poet 
Wadsworth thus very unpoetically describes: 
‘¢ The shell of a green turtle, thin 
And hollow; you might sit therein 
It was so wide and deep.” 
We obsérved them with much interest. They appeared ‘con- 
tented and happy although somewhat restless. Our first impres- 
sion was that they were either holding a mass meeting or a 
sociable. Then we queried whether they had not come to Nassau 
on a marooning excursion. But they were so dignified and 
solemn, and seemed so loaded down with a heavy weight of cares, 
we finally concluded they were holding a session of the sub-marine 
reptilian ‘‘ Parliament.” That they were loyal and patriotic 
may be inferred from the fact that they were soon to lose their 
lives for the public good. Turtles and turtle shells are ex- 
ported from the Bahamas of the annual value of from three 
thousand to four thousand dollars. It is said that the sea turtle» 
