THE TORTOISESHELL" OP COMMERCE. 377 



Malays, and the green esculent turtle, of which the carapace is of no use, the 

 animal being valued only for its flesh to sell to the Chinese and Europeans, 

 for among the Mahometans it is unlawful food. The three first-named species 

 all yield a marketable shell. The ratu, which signifies king or royal turtle, 

 is said to be of great size, measuring from five to six feet in length, but is 

 not often taken, and the shell is of inferior value. All the finest shell is 

 afforded by the first, the kulitan — the name, in fact, signifying " shell- 

 turtle." 



A very interesting account of the turtle fishery of Celebes, contained in 

 the 16th vol. of the 'Transactions of the Batavian Society of Arts and 

 Sciences,' describes the reptile as follows : 



" The first-named (the kulitan) is the kind which, on account of its 

 costly shell, is the most prized. It is the so-named Caret tortoise. The 

 shell or back of this creature is covered with thirteen shields or plates, 

 which lie regularly on each other in the manner of scales — five in the centre 

 of the back, and four on each side. These are the plates which furnish such 

 costly tortoiseshell to the arts. The edges of the scales of the back are 

 further covered with twenty-five thin pieces, joined one to another, which 

 in commerce are known under the appellation of ' feet ' or ' noses ' of the 

 tortoise. The value of the tortoiseshell depends on the weight of each 

 ' head ;' by which expression is understood the collective shell belonging to 

 one and the same animal. 



" Such is the article of commerce so much in request both for the 

 Chinese and European markets. Shells which have white and dark spots 

 that touch each other, and are as much as possible similar on both sides of 

 the blade, are in the eyes of the Chinese much finer, and on that account 

 more greedily bought by them than those which want this peculiarity. On 

 the contrary, shells which are reddish rather than black in their dark spots, 

 which possess little white, which are more damasked than spotted — in a 

 word, of which the colours, according to the Chinese taste, are badly distri- 

 buted — are less valued. The caprice of the Chinese makes them sometimes 

 value single ' heads at unheard-of prices — such, for example, as go under 

 the name of ' white heads,' for the varieties of which they have peculiar 

 names. It is impossible to give an accurate description of these varieties 

 and their subdivisions, for these depend on many circumstances inappreci- 

 able to our senses. It is enough for me to observe, that such heads as 

 possess the above-named qualities — that is, are very white in their blades, 

 and have the outer rim of each blade to the depth of two or three fingers 

 wholly white, and the weight of which amounts to two and a half catties, 

 qualities that are rarely found united — may be valued at 1,000 giiilders, or 

 even more (above 241. per pound avoirdupois). The ' feet ' or ' noses ' of the 

 tortoiseshell are in demand only in the Chinese market. Whenever the 

 two hinder pieces of these have the weight of a quarter of a catty (between 

 five and six ounces), which is seldom the case, they may reach the value 

 of 50 guilders, or more. The whole shell of a tortoise seldom weighs more 

 than three catties (four pounds), notwithstanding it is asserted that there 



