378 THE TORTOISESHELL OF COMMERCE. 



occur 'heads' of four and five catties. Tortoises are sometimes found, 

 of -which the shell, instead of thirteen blades, consists of a single and undi- 

 vided one. The Bajaus call this, which is rarely met with, 'loyong' 

 (brass?). 



" The modes by which these people catch the tortoise are the adang (inter- 

 cepting), the harpoon, and the net. To these we may add the simplest of 

 all — namely, falling on the females when they resort to the strand to lay 

 their eggs. This is also the most usual, I may say the only way, by which 

 the inhabitants of the coast catch this animal. They need nothing more 

 than, as soon as they have got the creature in their power, to turn it on its 

 back, when, unable to turn itself again, it lies helpless. It sometimes also 

 falls into the hands of the dwellers on the coasts through means of their 

 fishing-stakes, into which it enters like the fish, and from which it can find 

 no outlet, but remains imprisoned in the innermost chamber. When the 

 Bajaus have caught a tortoise, they kill it immediately by a few blows on 

 the head. They then take its upper shield or the back itself off, being 

 the only thing about the animal that has value ; but as the shells 

 adhere fast to each other, there wordd be danger of tearing them if they at 

 once pulled the plates asunder. They usually wait three days, in which 

 time the soft parts become decomposed, and the plates are loosened with 

 very little trouble." . 



Chelonia imbricata. — The carapace of this turtle is heart-shaped and 

 slightly convex, with thirteen imbricated, semi-transparent, and variegated 

 scales on the disc ; marginal pieces, twenty-five. The first four vertebral 

 scales are of an enlarged hexagonal form, the last four are of an elongated 

 form, the lateral ones are pentagonal, and those of the border are much 

 smaller and quadrangular. The blades or scales are very transparent, and 

 more beautifully mottled than those of the Chelonia Caretta ; but, as these 

 scales are thinner, they are not used for the same purposes, but are employed 

 for veneering and inlaying work. It has a blackish-green colour, with yellow- 

 ish spots. There are twenty-four plates in four rows on the plastron of 

 this turtle. 



C. Caretta. — The carapace of this species is oval and slightly in the form 

 of a heart, convex, and covered with thirteen plates or scales of the thickness 

 of two to nine millinietres (one to four lines), semi-transparent, slender, and 

 imbricated at the extreme edge. The first dorsal plate is the largest, and 

 nearly square ; the three succeeding ones are hexagonal, and the last penta- 

 gonal. The eight lateral scales and those on the extreme are quadrangular, 

 and the intermediate ones pentagonal. The twenty-four marginal plates 

 vary in size, and approach more or less to the parallelogram form. The 

 colour of all these scales is blackish, with irregular transparent spots of a - 

 golden yellow, and veined with red and white, or of a brownish-black, of 

 various shades. The plastron is roundish, slightly salient in front, and 

 obtuse in the back. It is covered with twelve large plates, imbricated, 

 whitish, and leathery. 



It is in many respects a not unimportant fact, that tortoiseshell 



