292 
REPTILES. 
[Chap. IX. 
one hand to scoop out the blood, which oozes slowly. 
The blade is next passed round, till the lower shell 
is detached and placed on one side, and the internal 
organs exposed in full action. A customer, as he 
applies, is served with any part selected, which is cut 
off as ordered, and sold by weight. Each of the fins is 
thus successively removed, with portions of the fat and 
flesh, the turtle showing, by its contortions, that each 
act of severance is productive of agony. In this state it 
lies for hours, writhing in the sun, the heart 1 and head 
being usually the last pieces selected, and till the latter 
is cut off the snapping of the mouth, and the opening 
and closing of the eyes, show that life is still inherent, 
even when the shell has been nearly divested of its 
contents. 
At certain seasons the flesh of turtle on the south- 
western coast of Ceylon is avoided as poisonous, and 
some lamentable instances are recorded of deaths 
ascribed to its use. At Pantura, to the south of 
Colombo, twenty-eight persons who had partaken of 
turtle in October, 1840, were immediately seized with 
sickness, after which coma supervened, and eighteen 
died during the night. Those who survived said there 
was nothing unusual in the appearance of the flesh 
except that it was fatter than ordinary. Other similarly 
fatal occurrences have been attributed to turtle curry ; 
but as they have never been proved to proceed exclu- 
sively from that source, there is room for believing that 
the poison may have been contained in some other 
ingredient. 
In the Gulf of Manaar turtle is frequently found 
1 Abistotle was aware of the the removal of the heart. — Be Vita 
fact that the turtle will live after et Morte, eh. ii. 
