66 
LITTLE FOLKS 
To prepare it for use it is softened by boiling, and made flat in 
a press, when it is ready to cut and polish. 
."%■ 
There are other ways to catch turtles, besides surprising them 
asleep. One way is to keep watch when they come on shore, and 
then turn them over. They are so clumsy they cannot turn back, 
and they can be left till the next day, and then carried off. 
Sometimes they are killed with a harpoon, in the same way as 
a whale, and sometimes they are secured in another way. The 
natives — seeing one floating — come quietly up, as near as pos- 
sible in a boat and then one of them jumps on his back. Of 
course he dashes off, but the man holds on, and rides till he is 
tired out and easily captured. 
