THE SEA TORTOISE. 
213 
These are a formidable and useless kind, if compared to 
the turtle caught in the South Seas and the Indian Ocean. * 
Ihese are of different kinds ; not only unlike each other in 
form, but furnishing man with very different advantages, 
jhey are usually distinguished bysailorsinto four kinds; 'the 
Jrunk Turtle, the Loggerhead, the Hawksbill, and’ the 
Oreen Turtle. 
The Hawksbill T urtle is the least of the four, and has a 
long and small mouth, somewhat resembling the bill of an 
hawk. The flesh of this also is very indifferent eatincr ; but 
the shell serves for the most valuable purposes. This is the 
animal that supplies the tortoise-shell, of which such a va- 
riety of beautiful trinkets are made. 
. But of all animals of the tortoise kind, the green turtle 
is the most noted, and the most valuable, from the delicacy 
nf its flesh, and its nutritive qualities, together with the 
Property of being easily digested. It is generally found 
about two hundred weight; though some are five hundred, 
and others not above fifty. 
This animal seldom comes from the sea but to deposit its 
e ggs. Its chief food consists of the mangrove, the black- 
wood tree and other marine plants. When the weather is 
air, the turtles are sometimes seen feeding in great numbers, 
nke flocks of sheep, several fathoms deep upon the verdant 
c arpet below. They frequent the creeks and shallows where 
Bley are usually taken ; but they are extremely shy of boats 
and men, and swim remarkably fast. 
When the time for laying approaches, the female is seen, 
towards the setting of the sun, drawing near the shore, and 
looking earnestly about her, as if afraid of being discovered. 
‘“en she perceives any person on shore, she seeks for ano- 
1 ier place ; but if otherwise, she lands when it is dark, and 
Soes to take a survey of the sand where she designs to lay. 
Having marked the spot, she goes back without laying, for 
1 “at night, to the ocean again ; but the next night returns to 
oyposit a part of her burden. She begins by working and 
fl| gging in the sand with her fore feet, till she has made a 
*°und hole, a foot broad, and a foot and a half deep, just at 
cjie place a little above where the water reaches highest. 
/. Us Bone, she lays eighty or ninety eggs at a time, ea°ch as 
’p. as » pigeon’s egg. The eggs are covered with a tough, 
j “| te skin, like wetted parchment. When she has done 
d >tng, she covers the hole so dexterously, that it is no easy 
atter to find the place. When the turtle has done laying, 
“e returns to the sea, and leaves her eggs to be hatched by 
• b G * lGat °^* ^ le sun ‘ ^ *' le enc * °^* fifteen Bays, she lays 
oout the same number of eggs again ; and at the end of 
