TURTLE. 
15 
demand for the delicious food, that it is become an 
article of commerce, and ships are provided with 
conveniences for supplying them with water and 
provisions to bring them over in health from Jamaica 
and the other West India islands. They do not al- 
ways succeed, however, in their attempts; for though 
the turtle are very tenacious of life, and scarcely 
require any provision during the voyage, yet they 
frequently lose flesh, and are impaired in flavour ; 
so that to eat this animal in the highest perfection, 
we are told that instead of bringing the turtle to 
the epicure, he ought to be transported to the 
turtle. 
The introduction of this article of luxury among 
our countrymen, cannot be traced beyond a very 
limited period. Dr. Shaw has collected two or 
three notices from The Gentleman’s Magazine for 
the years 1753 and 1754, of large turtles dressed at 
different taverns ; by which it appears that the crea- 
ture was, at that time, rather a novelty, or the 
cooking of it would not have been honoured with a 
place in a newspaper. 
