TURNING LOGGERHEADS 



131 



The barnacles on her shell were cutting 

 my hands, her weight seemed to in- 

 crease with every passing second, my 

 back was breaking, and her struggles 

 were most disconcerting. "Hurry, Bill, 

 or I shall have to drop her," I called. 

 At the last moment, when \ couldn't 

 have held on another instant, he ar- 

 rived. Our united efforts were neces- 

 sary to turn her, and surely I could 

 never have done it alone, although I 

 suspected my companion had lagged be- 

 hind in order that I might have all the 

 glory. 



There lay our captive helpless to es- 

 cape. We threw ourselves down quite 

 exhausted from our efforts, and watched 

 her toss great showers of sand in the 

 air in vain attempts to regain her natu- 

 ral position. After a short rest we again 

 followed the coast in the direction of 

 our camp. We were not lucky enough 

 to get another that night, nor did we on 

 this occasion see any bear signs. 



Camp was a welcome sight as we ap- 

 proached it in the moon's waning light. 

 Sleep came quickly and when I awoke 

 under my canopy of cheese-cloth the 

 next morning the sun had risen and 

 shone full in my face. Bill was no- 

 where to be seen, and I guessed that he 

 had gone to dispatch the loggerhead 

 captured during the previous night. 

 Soon he returned, carrying a sack 

 which afterw r ards proved to contain the 

 egj?s taken from the loggerhead's nest. 

 There were nearly two hundred of 

 them ; they were quite round in shape, 

 and only about one inch in diameter, 

 the shells being of parchment-like lext- 

 ure with a slight dent or depression on 

 one side, as if the contents did not quite 

 fill them. 



Among Bill's many accomplishments 

 camp-cooking was not the least. I 

 watched him make an omelet of tur- 

 tle eggs, and was surprised that he used 

 only the yolks, discarding the whites. 

 He told me that it was impossible to 

 cook the whites, that they would not 

 harden like hens' eggs, and that only 

 the yolks were fit to eat. Keen appe- 



tites arc the usual accompaniment of 

 meals in camp, which perhaps accounts 

 for man}' a cook's reputation, but the 

 omelet was so good that I called for 

 more. 



Later I had a chance to taste turtle 

 meat. It is said by some to be equal to 

 beef. To me it was very different and 

 inferior, but I once ate some that had 

 been dried and smoked and its resem- 

 blance to smoked beef was very strik- 

 ing. 



Sometimes the capture takes place a 

 long distance from the camp and a curi- 

 ous plan is resorted to, to get the turtle 

 nearer. A stout line is attached to her 

 and she is made to swim in the sea in 

 the required direction, her escape into 

 deep water being prevented by a cou- 

 ple of strong men at the other end of 

 the line who lead her and check any at- 

 tempt she may make in that direction. 

 Upon arriving at the desired destin- 

 ation she is pulled up on the beach and 

 again turned on her back to be disposed 

 of at leisure. 



When I went to look at our turtle by 

 daylight and to help carry away such 

 portions of the meat as we wanted, I 

 was not surprised that it had given us 

 so much trouble the night before. We 

 estimated its weight as upwards of 

 twelve hundred pounds, which is not 

 unusual. Massive strength was written 

 all over it. Its powerful jaws bespoke 

 its carnivorous habits, and its muscular 

 flippers indicated with what efficient 

 strength they could be wielded to navi- 

 gate the ocean's depths. Its shell was 

 of somewhat soft and spongy texture, 

 quite unlike that of the hawksbill or the 

 green turtle, and like the bottom of 

 some old ship returning from a long 

 cruise, was coated here and there with 

 barnacles. This shell has no commer- 

 cial value, and when left upon the sand 

 soon becomes disintegrated. Ours hap- 

 pened to be the first loggerhead cap- 

 tured that season and this accounted for 

 the group of curious neighbors whom 

 we found awaiting us as we brought 

 our sailboat up to the wharf. 



