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 Aristotle was aware of the the removal of the heart. — Be Vita 

 fact that the turtle will live after et Morte, ch. ii. 



