376 THE TORTOISESHELL OF COMMERCE. 



The hawk's-bill turtle has the carapace large, depressed, somewhat 

 heart-shaped, and covered with broad scales, overlapping each other, whence 

 the specific name. The scales are thick and firm, and are of a yellowish 

 colour, variously stained and marbled with brown : the vertebral row 

 are keeled, and have a raised central line. It is for the sake of the plates 

 of its carapace that this species is in request ; for the flesh is disagreeable, 

 and perhaps even unwholesome. 



The "hawk's-bill turtle is not only an inhabitant of the warmer lati- 

 tudes of the seas and coasts of the New World, but is found also in the 

 seas of Asia ; and it was from the latter regions that the ancients derived 

 the tortoiseshell which they used in the arts, and for ornamental work, 

 as is now practised in modern Europe and India. 



The vertebral and costal scales of the carapace of this animal are 

 thirteen in number ; and these, instead of being united edge to edge, are 

 imbricated, — that is, the anterior scales largely overlie the next in succes- 

 sion, like tiles on a house-top ; but the part of each that overlies the next 

 is thinner than the part adherent to the osseous framework of the cara- 

 pace, and terminates in a rather sharp edge, so that the general surface of 

 the whole is smooth. These are the valued parts of the animal, and it is 

 said that the shell procured from the creature while alive is the finest. 

 The mode in which the shell is separated from the bone of the carapace, 

 is by presenting its convex surface to a glowing fire, which causes the 

 scales to rise and separate from the bone to such a degree that their 

 complete detachment is easily effected. It appears that in Easter Island, 

 and other places in the Pacific where the fishing of this species is carried on, 

 the animal is subject while alive to this barbarous operation, and that, after 

 being stripped, it is set at liberty. This is confirmed by Mr Darwin, who* 

 in his ' Voyage of a Naturalist,' states that he was informed by Captain 

 Moresby, that in the Chagos Archipelago the natives take the shell from 

 the back of the living tortoise. It is covered with burning charcoal, which 

 causes the outer shell to curl upwards ; it is then forced off with a knife, and, 

 before it becomes cold, flattened between boards. After this barbarous process, 

 the animal is suffered to regain its native element, where after a certain 

 time a new shell is formed : it is, however, too thin to be of any service, 

 and the animal always appears languishing and sickly. 



The coast of Darien and several adjacent islets are celebrated for the 

 fishery of this tortoise. At San Bias, a colony of Indians is established 

 for the sole purpose of taking these animals ; and formerly as much as 

 1,500 pounds weight of shell was collected on the average annually. 



Tortoises are found in all the seas of the Malay and Philippine Archipe- 

 lagos ; but the imbricated kind, which yields the finest shell, is most abundant 

 in those of Celebes, Sulu, and the Spice Islands, as far as the coasts of New 

 Guinea. The parties chiefly engaged in their capture are the Bajaus, or 

 sea-nomadic hunters, of whom the turtle is the principal game. 



These people distinguish four species of sea-turtle, to which they give 

 the names of kiditan, akung, ratu, and boko. The last is the panu of the 



