THE GREEN TURTLE. 
25 
within the upper. The tail is very short. The color of this species is yellow richly marbled 
with deep brown above. The under parts are yellowish-white, splashed with black on the 
areola in the half- grown and younger individuals, and the head is brown, the plates being 
often edged with yellow. 
The Hawk' 1 s-bill Turtle is rather common around the Florida Reef, though large ones are 
rarely found. The young we have seen among the mangroves in the water-ways of the Ever- 
glades. They are highly esteemed as an edible. 
The best known of all the Turtles is the celebrated Green Turtle (< OJielonia mydas), so 
called from the green color of its fat. 
This useful animal is found in the seas and on the shores of both continents, and is most 
plentiful about the Island of Ascension and the Antilles, where it is subject to incessant perse- 
cution for the sake of its flesh. The shell of this reptile is of very little use, and of small 
value, but the flesh is remarkably rich and well-flavored, and the green fat has long enjoyed a 
world- wide and fully deserved reputation. 
In Europe the flesh of the Green Turtle is little but an object of luxury, attainable only 
at great cost, and dressed with sundry accompaniments that increase rather than diminish its 
natural richness. But in many instances, more especially on board ship, when the sailors 
have been forced to eat salt provisions until the system becomes deteriorated, and the fearful 
scourge of scurvy is impending over crew and officers, the Turtle becomes an absolute neces- 
sity, and is the means of saving many a noble vessel from destruction, by giving the crew 
a healthful change of diet, and purifying the blood from the baneful effects of a course of 
salted provisions. 
Landsmen have little notion of the real texture and flavor of “salt junk,” their ideas 
being generally confined to the delicately corned and pinky beef or pork that is served up 
to table, with the accompaniments of sundry fresh and well-dressed vegetables. Whereas, salt 
junk is something like rough mahogany in look and hardness, and salted to such a degree 
as almost to blister the tongue of a landsman. It may easily be imagined how any one who 
has been condemned to a course of this diet for a lengthened time would welcome fresh meat 
of any kind whatever, and we need not wonder at the extraordinary relish with which sailors 
will uat sharks, sea-birds, and various other strangely flavored creatures. 
The flesh and fat of the Turtle are valuable in a medicinal point of view, and will supply 
in a more agreeable, though more costly manner, the various remedies for consumptive tenden- 
cies, decline, and similar diseases, of which cod-liver oil is the most familiar and one of the 
most nauseous examples. 
Formerly, before steam power was applied to vessels, the Turtle was extremely scarce and 
very expensive, but it can now be obtained on much more reasonable terms. Many vessels are 
now in the habit of bringing over Turtles as part of their cargo, and it is found that these 
valuable reptiles are easily managed when on board, requiring hardly any attention. The 
following short account of some captive Turtles has been kindly presented to me by a partaker 
of their voyage and their flesh : — 
“The Island of Ascension is a great resort of Turtle, which are there captured and 
retained prisoners in some large ponds, from which they are occasionally transferred to ships 
for ‘ rations ’ for the crew. These Turtles may be seen in the ponds, lazily moving along, one 
above another, sometimes three or four deep. They occasionally come to the surface to take 
breath, and will splash about at times quite merrily, as though ignorant that their destiny 
tended towards conversion into soup and cutlets. At the best, however, they are lethargic, 
awkward creatures. 
“ About half a dozen fine Turtle were conveyed on board our ship during my stay at the 
Island of Ascension ; they were unwieldly monsters, measuring rather more than four feet six 
inches in length, and about three feet in breadth. They were allowed to lie either in the 
boats, or on the after-part of the poop, and seldom disturbed themselves unless the vessel gave 
an extra roll, or they were stirred up by a pail of water being thrown over them or a wet swab 
rubbed over their hooked beaks. 
vol. m.— 4. ■ , 
