350 
SOUTH SEA 
the utmost promptitude, some of them requiring three 
of us to do so, and at the same time exhausting all 
our strength, their weight exceeding two hundred 
pounds. When we had succeeded in turning about 
twenty of the largest, the others became alarmed, and 
a scrambling race took place among the whole of them 
to gain the water; in doing so they threw up the sand 
upon which they lay with their fins with great force, 
and when they got to the edge of the bay in shallow 
water, those we captured in that situation gave us 
some trouble. This was especially the case with the 
last that we endeavoured to obtain, one of exceeding 
large size ; for as it had gained a sufficient depth of 
water nearly to cover its shell, it was just on the point 
of darting off with great velocity, when at that moment 
one of our men endeavoured to stop its career, but was 
directly thrown down by the violence of its action ; how- 
ever, three more of us immediately ran to the spot and 
assisted in the capture, when a ludicrous scene pre- 
sented itself. 
The turtle having got into deeper water, was exerting 
itself with all its strength to escape from our grasp, and 
in doing so two of us were thrown backwards into the 
water, with our antagonist on the top of us ; our friends, 
on the other side, exerted themselves to their utmost to 
relieve us from our unpleasant situation, with just our 
heads appearing above the surface of the sea, and during 
this time our obstinate adversary kept moving its four 
fins with the greatest velocity and force, dashing the 
salt water in our faces, almost blinding us, and at the 
