1836. 



CURIOUS CRAB TURTLE-FISHING. 



633 



turtle to shipping, when they touched there, and the immense 

 crops of cocoa-nuts which are produced annually on all the 

 islets of the group were monopolized by Mr. Ross for his sole 

 advantage. One daily task imposed upon the Malay women 

 was to " husk"" a hundred nuts, collected for them by the men, 

 who extract a gallon of oil from every ten. 



Another kind of oil, said to be very good, is derived from the 

 fat tail of a large land-crab, which feeds on cocoa-nuts. About 

 a pint and a half may be obtained from one crab. The manner 

 in which these creatures — nearly the size of a large cray-fish — 

 tap the nuts in order to get at their contents is curious. Num- 

 bers of windfall nuts, in a comparatively soft state, are always 

 to be found lying about under the trees : a crab seizes one of 

 these, and pegs away at the eyes (each nut has three eyes) with 

 one of its claws, that is long and sharp, purposely, it would 

 seem, until it opens a hole, through which the crab extracts 

 the juice, and some of the solid part. 



The manner of ascending tall palm-trees is similar to that 

 described at Otaheite, and requires strength as well as agility : 

 both which are also shown by these Malays in their chases 

 after turtle among the shallows and coral ' thickets"* of the 

 lagoon, where they abound, A party of men go in a light boat 

 and look for a fine turtle in some shallow place. Directly one 

 is seen, they give chase in the boat, endeavouring to keep it in 

 a shallow, and tolerably clear place, till it begins to be tired 

 by its exertions to escape ; then, watching a favourable mo- 

 ment, a man jumps out of the boat and seizes the turtle. 

 Away it darts, with the man on its back grasping its neck 

 until he can get an opportunity, by touching ground with 

 his feet, to turn it over, and secure his prize. Only the more 

 active men can succeed well in this sort of fishing. 



Other unusual things were seen by us at this place, one or 

 two of which I will mention. There are fish that live by feed- 

 ing upon small branches of the coral, which grows in such pro- 

 fusion in the lagoon. One species of these fish is about two feet 

 and a half long, of a beautiful green colour about the head 

 and tail, with a hump on its head, and a bony kind of mouth, 



