352 
SOUTH SEA 
fish also expressed the same unwillingness to be dis- 
turbed or alarmed, appearing to be quite occupied by 
their anticipation of the rich harvest which awaited 
them in the feast of young turtle to which they were 
hourly looking. For we found on the beach I have 
before mentioned, several large holes dug in the sand, 
which had been prepared by some of the turtle to 
deposit their eggs in ; after having done so, the 'sand 
is again removed, and carefully placed over them, they 
are then left to be hatched by the heat of the sun. 
As it was the hatching season at the time of our 
arrival here, all these sharks, sting-rays, and dog-fish, 
were waiting at the edge of the bay, to devour the 
newly-hatched turtle as they made their first entrance 
into the water, which they do as soon as they can re- 
lieve themselves from the sand with which they are 
covered ; so that, considering the number of sharks, 
devil-fish, and dog-fish, which we saw in the bay, and 
knowing well their gluttonous propensities, it was asto- 
nishing to me how it was possible for a single young 
turtle to escape. All the next day we were well em- 
ployed in getting on board the remaining turtle we had 
left on the beach on the preceding day, and by night-fall 
we had finished our task. 
For the space of four or five weeks afterwards we 
lived in excellent style, our dinners surpassing a civic 
banquet in the quantity and quality of our turtle-soup, 
our black cook thinking very little of fifty or sixty 
pounds of their flesh, with its “ green fat” and “calapee,” 
for the preparation of his dinner — which dainty fare con- 
