09 January 2009

Instead of my drivel, I thought I would share this excerpt from a book formerly in my possession. I have left spelling and punctuation as it was in the book. Sorry I can't produce the old style S that looks like a lower case F. Printed in 1795 from plates used in England years earlier. For your reading pleasure, I present

AN HISTORY OF THE EARTH AND ANIMATED NATURE.

By OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

IN FOUR VOLUMES

VOL. III.

PHILADELPHIA:

PRINTED FOR MATHEW CAREY,

N. 118, MARKET STREET.

SEPT. 3, M. DCC. XCV

 CRUSTACEOUS FISHES. CHAP. III: Of the Tortoise and its Kinds.

        Having described the lobster and the crab as animals in some measure approaching to the insect tribes, it will appear like injustice to place the tortoise among the number, which, from its strength, its docility, the warm red blood that is circulating in its veins, deserves to be ranked even above the fishes.  But as this animal is covered, like the lobster, with a shell, as it is of an amphibious nature, and brings forth its young from the egg without hatching, we must be content to degrade it among animals that in every respect it infinitely surpasses.

          Tortoises are usually divided into those that live upon land, and those that subsist in the water; and use has made a distinction even in name; the one being called tortoises, the other turtles.  However, Seba has proved that all tortoises are amphibious; that the land tortoise will live in the water; and that the sea turtle can be fed upon land.  A land tortoise was brought to him that was caught in one of the canals of Amsterdam, which he kept for half a year in his house, where it lived very well contented in both elements.  When in the water, it remained with its head above the surface; when placed in the sun, it seemed delighted with its beams, and continued immoveable while it felt their warmth.  The difference, therefore, in these animals, arises rather from their habits than their conformation; and, upon examination, there will be less variety found between them, than between birds that live upon land, and those that swim upon the water.

          Yet, though nature seems to have made but few distinctions among these animals, as to their conformation, yet, in their habits, they are very dissimilar; as these result from the different qualities of their food, and the different sorts of enemies they have to avoid or encounter. I will therefore exhibit their figure and conformation under one common description, by which their slight differences will be more obvious; and then I will give a separate history of the manners of each, as naturalists and travellers have taught us.

          All tortoises, in their external form, pretty much resemble each other;  their outward covering being composed of two great shells, the one laid upon the other, and only touching at the edges: however, when we come to look closer, we shall find that the upper shell is composed of no less than thirteen pieces, which are laid flat upon the ribs, like the tiles of an house, by which the shell is kept arched and supported. The shells both above and below that, which seem , to an inattentive observer, to make each but one piece, are bound together at the edges by very hard and strong ligaments, yet with some small share of motion.  There are two holes at either edge of this vaulted body; one for a very small head, shoulders and arms, to peep through; the other, at the opposite edge, for the feet and the tail. These shells the animal is never disengaged from: and they serve for its defence against every creature but man.

          The tortoise has but a small head, with no teeth; having only two bony ridges in the place, serrated and hard.  These serve to gather and grind its food; and such is the amazing strength of the jaws, that it is impossible to open them where they once have fastened.  Even when the head is cut off, the jaws still keep their hold; and the muscles, in death, preserve a tenacious rigidity.  Indeed, the animal is possessed of equal strength in all other parts of its body: the legs, though short, are inconceivably strong; and torpid as the tortoise may appear, it has been known to bear five men standing in its back, with apparent ease and unconcern.  Its manner if going forward is by moving its legs one after the other; and the claws with which the toes are furnished, sink into the ground like the nails of an iron shod wheel, and assist in its progression.

          With respect to its internal parts, not to enter into minute anatomical disquisitions, it may not be improper to observe, that the blood circulates in this animal as in some cartilaginous fishes, and something in the manner of a child in the womb. The greatest quantity of the blood passes directly from the vena cava into the left ventricle of the heart, which communicates with the right ventricle by an opening; while the auricles only receive what the ventricles seem incapable of admitting.  Thus the blood is driven by a very short passage through the circulation; and the lungs seem to lend only occasional assistance.  From this conformation the animal can subsist for some time, without using the lungs, or breathing; at least, the lungs are not so necessary an instrument for driving on the circulation as with us.

          Such is the general structure of this animal,  whether found to live by land or water.  With regard to the differences of these animals, the land tortoise, from its habits of making use of its feet in walking, is much more nimble upon land than the sea turtle: the land tortoise, if thrown upon its back, by rocking and balancing its body, like a child rocking in a cradle, at last turns itself upon its face again; but the turtle, when once turned, continues without being able to move from the spot.  in comparing the feet also of these animals, the nails upon the toes of one that has long been used to scratch for subsistence upon land,  are blunt and worn; while those that have only been employed in swimming, are sharp and long, and have more the similitude of fins.  The brain of the land tortoise is but small; and yet it is three times as large as that of the turtle.  There is a difference also in the shape of their eggs, and in the passage is so narrow, that the egg conforms to the shape of the aperture, and though round when in the body, yet becomes much more oblong than those of fowls, upon being excluded; otherwise they would never be able to pass  through the bony canal by which they are protruded: on the contrary, the passage is wider in the turtle, and therefore its eggs are round.  These are the most striking distinctions; but that which is most known, is their size; the land tortoise often not exceeding three feet long, by two feet broad; the sea turtle being sometimes from five to seven feet long.  The size, however, is but a fallacious distinction; since land tortoises, in some parts of India, grow to a very great magnitude; though probably not, as the ancients affirm, big enough for a single shell to serve for the covering of an house.

          But if the different kinds of tortoises are not sufficiently distinguished by their figure, they are very obviously distinguishable by their methods of living.  The land tortoise lives in holes dug in the mountains, or near marshy lakes: the sea turtle in cavities of rocks, and extensive pastures at the bottom of the sea.  The tortoise makes use of its feet to walk, and burrow in the ground; the turtle chiefly uses its feet is swimming, or creeping at bottom.

          The land tortoise is generally found, as was observed above, from one foot to five feet long, from the end of the snout to the end of the tail;  and from five inches to a foot and a half across the back.  It has a  small head, somewhat resembling that of a serpent; and eye without the upper lid; the under eye-lid serving to cover and keep that organ  in safety.  It has a strong, scaly tail, like the lizard.  Its head the animal can put out and hide at pleasure, under the great penthouse of its shell; there it can remain secure from all attacks; there, defended on every side it can fatigue the patience of the most formidable animal of the forest, that makes use only of natural strength to destroy it.  As the tortoise lives wholly upon vegetable food, it never seeks the encounter; yet, if any of the smaller animals attempt to invade its repose, they are sure to suffer.  The tortoise, impregnably defended, is furnished with such a strength of jaw, that, though armed only with bony plates instead of teeth, wherever it fastens, it infallibly keeps its hold, until it has taken out the piece.

          Though peaceable in itself, it is formed for war in another respect, for it seems almost endued with immortality.  Hardly any thing can kill it; the depriving it of one of its members, is but a slight injury; it will live though deprived of the brain; it will live though deprived of its head.  Redi informs us, that in making some experiments upon vital motion, he, in the beginning of the month of November, took a land tortoise, made a large opening in its skull, and drew out all the brain, washed the cavity, so as not to leave the smallest part remaining, and then, leaving the hole open, set the animal at liberty.  Notwithstanding this the tortoise marched away without seeming to have received the smallest injury; only it shut the eyes, and never opened them afterwards.  Soon after, the hole in the skull was seen to close; and, in three days, there was a complete skin, covering the wound.  In this manner the animal lived, without a brain, for six months; walking about unconcernedly, and moving its limbs as before.  But the Italian philosopher, not satisfied with this experiment, carried it still farther; for he cut off the head, and the animal lived twenty-three days after its separation from the body.  The head also continued to rattle the jaws, like a pair of castanets, for above a quarter of and hour.

          Nor are these animals less long-lived, than difficult in destroying.  Tortoises are commonly known to exceed eighty years old; and there was one kept in the archbishop of Canterbury’s garden, at Lambeth, that was remembered above an hundred and twenty.  It was at last killed by the severity of a frost, from which it had not sufficiently defended itself in its winter retreat, which was a heap of land, at the bottom of the garden.

          The usual food of the land tortoise seems not so nourishing as to supply this extraordinary principle of vitality.  It lives upon vegetables in its retreats in the mountains or the plain; and seldom makes its prey of snails or worms, but when other food is not found in grateful plenty.  It is fond also of fruits; and when the forest affords them, is generally found not far from where they grow.  As it can move but slowly, it is not very delicate in the choice of its food; so that it usually fills itself with whatever offers.  Those that are kept in a domestic state, will eat any thing; leaves, fruits, corn, bran or grass.

          From the smallness of its brain, and the slowness of its motion, it obviously appears to be a torpid, heavy animal, requiring rest and sleep; and in fact, it retires to some cavern to sleep for the winter. I already observed that its blood circulates through the heart by a short passage; and that it does not, as anatomists express it, go through the great circulation.  With us and quadrupeds the blood goes from the veins to the heart; from the heart it is sent to be spread over the lungs; from the lungs it returns to the heart again; and from thence it goes t the arteries, to be distributed through the whole body.  But its passage in the tortoise is much shorter; for, from the veins it goes to the heart; then leaving the lungs entirely out of its course, it takes a short cut, if I may so say, into the beginning of the arteries, which send it round the animal frame.  From hence we see the lungs are left out of the circulation; and consequently, the animal is capable of continuing to live without continuing to breathe.  In this it resembles the bat, the serpent, the mole, and the lizard; like them it takes up its dark residence for the winter;  and, at that time, when its food is no longer in plenty, it happily becomes insensible to the want.  Nor is it unmindful to prepare its retreat, and make it as convenient as possible; it is sometimes buried two or three feet  in the ground, with its hole furnished with moss, grass, and other substances, as well as to keep the retreat warm, as to serve for food, in case it should prematurely wake from its state of stupefaction.  But it must not be supposed, that, while it is thus at rest, it totally discontinues to breathe; on the contrary, and animal of this kind, if put into a close vessel, without air, will soon be stifled; though not so readily as in a state of vigor and activity.

          From this dormant state the tortoise is awakened by the genial return of spring; and is thought not to be much wasted by its long confinement.  To animals that live an hundred and fifty years, a sleep of six months is but as the nap of a night.  All the actions of these long-lived creatures seem formed upon a scale answering the length of their existence; their slumbers are for a season; their motions are slow, and require time in every action: even the act of procreation, which , among other animals, is performed in a very few minutes, is with them the business of days.  About a month after their enlargement from a torpid state, they prepare to transmit their posterity; and both continue joined for near a month together.  The eggs of the female are contained in the ovary, above the bladder, which is extremely large; and these are, before their exclusion, round and naked, with spots of red; after they are laid, however, they assume another form, being smaller and longer than those of a hen.  This alteration in the figure of the eggs most probably proceeds from the narrowness of the bony passage through which they are excluded.  Swammerdam, who compared the size of the eggs taken out of this animal’s body with the diameter of the passage through which they were excluded, was of opinion that the bones themselves separated from each other, and closed again; but, in my opinion, it is more probable to suppose, that the eggs, and not the bones, alter their form.  Certain it is, that they are round in the body, and that they are oval upon being protruded.

          The eggs of all the tortoise kind, like those of birds, are furnished with a yolk and a white; but the shell is different, being somewhat like those soft eggs that hens exclude before their time: however, this shell is much thicker and stronger, and is a longer time in coming to maturity in the womb.  The land tortoise lays but a few in number, if compared to the sea turtle, who deposits from an hundred and fifty to two hundred in a season.

          The amount of the land tortoise’s eggs, I have not been able to learn; but, from the scarceness of the animal, I am apt to think they cannot be very numerous.  When it prepares to lay, the female scratches a slight depression in the earth, generally in a warm situation, where the beams of the sun have their full effect: there depositing her eggs, and covering them with grass and leaves, she forsakes them, to be hatched by the heat of the season.  The young tortoises are generally excluded in about twenty-six days: but, as the heat of the weather assists, or its coldness retards incubation, sometimes it happens that there is a difference of two or three days.  The little animals no sooner leave the egg than they seek for their provision, entirely self-taught; and their shell, with which they are covered from the beginning, expands and grows larger with age. As it is composed of a variety of pieces, they are all capable of extension at their sutures, and the shell admits of increase in every direction.  It is otherwise with those animals, like the lobster, whose shell is composed all of one piece, that admits of no increase; in  which, when the tenant is too big for the habitation, it must burst the shell, and get another.  But the covering of the tortoise grows larger in proportion as the internal parts expand; in some measure resembling the growth of the human skull, which is composed of a number of bones, increasing in size in proportion to the quantity of the brain.  All tortoises, therefore, as they never change their shell, must have it formed in pieces; and though, in some that have been described by painters or historians, these marks have not been attended to, yet we can have no doubt that they are general to the whole tribe.

          It is common enough to take these animals into gardens, as they are thought to destroy insects and snails in great abundance.  We are even told that, in hot countries, they are admitted into a domestic state, as they are great destroyers of bugs.  How so large and heavy an animal is capable of being expert at such petty prey, is not easy to conceive; but I have seen several of them about gentlemen’s houses, that, in general, appear torpid, harmless, and even fond of employment.  Children have sometimes got upon the back of a tortoise; and such was the creature’s strength, that it never seemed overloaded, but moved off with its burden to where it expected to be fed, but would carry them no further.  In winter they regularly find out a place to sleep in; but in those warm countries in which the tortoise is found larger, and in greater plenty than  in Europe, they live, without retiring, the whole year round.

          The sea tortoise or turtle, as it is now called, is generally found larger than the former.  This element is possessed with the property of increasing the magnitude of those animals, which are common to the land and the ocean.  The sea pike is larger than that of fresh-water; the sea bear is larger than that of the mountains; and the sea turtle exceeds the land tortoise in the same proportion.  It is of different magnitudes, according to its different kinds; some turtles being not above fifty pounds weight, and some above eight hundred.

          The great Mediterranean turtle is the largest of the turtle kind with which we are acquainted.  It is found from five to eight feet long, and from six to nine hundred pounds weight.  But, unluckily, its utility bears no proportion to its size; as it is unfit for food, and sometimes poisons those who eat it.  The shell also, which is a tough strong integument, resembling an hide, is unfit for all serviceable purposes.  One of these animals was taken in the year 1729, at the mouth of the Loire, in nets that were not designed for so large a capture.  This turtle, which was of enormous strength, by its own struggles involved itself in the nets in such a manner as to be incapable of doing mischief:  yet even thus shackled, it appeared terrible to the fisherman, who were at first for flying; but finding it impotent, they gathered courage to drag it on shore, where it made a most horrible bellowing; and when they began to knock it on the head with their gaffs, it was to be heard at a half mile’s distance.  They were still further intimidated by its nauseous and pestilential breath, which so powerfully affected them, that they were near fainting.  this animal wanted but four inches of being eight feet long, and was above two feet over; its shell more resembled leather than the shell of a tortoise; and, unlike all other animals of this kind, it was furnished with teeth in each jaw, one rank behind another, like those of a shark:  its feet also, different from the rest of this kind,  wanted claws; and the tail was quite disengaged from the shell, and fifteen inches long, more resembling that of a quadruped than a tortoise.  This animal was then unknown upon the coasts of France; and was supposed to have been brought into the European seas, in some India ship that might be wrecked upon her return.  Since that, however, two or three of these animals have been taken upon the coasts; two in particular upon those of Cornwall, in the year 1756, the largest of which weighed eight hundred pounds; and one upon the isle of Rhe, but two years before, that weighed between seven and eight hundred. One, most probably of this kind also, was caught about thirty years ago near Scarborough, and a good deal of company was invited to feast upon it: a gentleman who was one of the guests, told the company that it was a Mediterranean turtle, and not wholesome; but a person who was willing to satisfy his appetite at the risque of his life, eat of it: he was seized with a violent vomiting and purging; but his constitution overpowered the malignity of the poison.

          These are a formidable and useless kind, if compared to the turtle caught in the South Seas and the Indian ocean.  These are of different kinds; not only unlike each other in form, but furnishing man with very different advantages.  They are usually distinguished by sailors into four kinds; the trunk turtle, the loggerhead, the hawksbill, and the green turtle.

          The trunk turtle is commonly larger than the rest, and its back higher and rounder.  The flesh of this is rank, and not very wholesome.

          The loggerhead is so called from the largeness of its head, which is much bigger in proportion than that of the other kinds.  The flesh of this also is very rank, and not eaten but in case of necessity.

          The hawksbill turtle is the least of the four, and has a long and small mouth, somewhat resembling the bill of an hawk.  The flesh of this is very indifferent eating; but the shell serves for the most valuable purposes.  this is the animal that supplies the tortoise-shell, of which such a variety of beautiful trinkets are made.  The substance of which the shells of other turtles are composed, is thin and porous; but that of the hawksbill is firm, and, when polished, is beautifully marbled.  they generally carry about three pounds; but the largest of all, six pounds.  The shell consists, as in all the kinds, of thirteen leaves or plates, of which eight are flat, and five hollow.  They are raised and taken off by means of fire, which is made under the shell, after the flesh is taken out. As soon as the heat affects the leaves, they start from the ribs, and are easily raised with the point of a knife.  By being scraped and polished on both sides, they become beautifully transparent; or are easily cast into what form the workman thinks proper, by making them soft and pliant in warm water, and then screwing  them in a mould, like a medal; however, the shell is most beautiful before it undergoes this last operation.

          But of all animals of the tortoise kind, the green turtle is the most noted, and most valuable.  The delicacy of its flesh, and its nutritive qualities, together with the property of being easily digested, were, for above a century, known only to our seamen and the inhabitants of the coasts where they were taken.  It was not till by slow degrees, the distinction came to be made between such as were malignant, and such as were wholesome.  The controversies and contradictions of our old travellers, were numerous upon this head; some asserting, that the turtle  was a delicious food;  and others, that it was actual poison.  Dampier, that rough seamen, who has added more to natural history than half of the philosophers that went before him, appears to be the first who informed us of their distinctions; and that, while the rest might be valuable for other purposes, the green turtle alone was chiefly prized for the delicacy of its flesh.  He never imagined, however, that this animal would make its way to the luxurious tables of Europe;  for he seems chiefly to recommend it as salted up for ship’s provision in case of necessity.

          At present the turtle is very well known among us; and is become the favourite food of those that are desirous of eating a great deal without the danger of surfeiting.  This is a property the flesh of the turtle seems peculiarly possessed of; and by the importation of it alive among us, gluttony is freed from one of its greatest restraints.  The flesh of turtle is become a branch of commerce; and therefore ships are provided with conveniences for supplying them with water and provision, to bring them over in health from Jamaica and other West-India islands.  This, However, is not always effected; for though they are very vivacious, and scarce require any provision upon the voyage, yet, by the working of the ship and their beating against the sides of the boat that contains them, they become battered and lean; so that to eat this animal in the highest perfection, instead of bringing the turtle to the epicure, he ought to be transported to the turtle.

          This animal is called the green turtle, from the colour of its shell, which is rather greener than that of others of this kind.  It is generally found about two hundred weight; though some are five hundred, and others not above fifty.  Dampier tells us, of one that was seen at Port Royal, in Jamaica, that was six feet across the back: he does not tell us its other dimensions; but says, that the son of captain Roach, a boy about ten years old, sailed in the shell, as in a boat, from the shore to his father’s ship,  which was above a quarter of a mile from land. But this is nothing to the size of some turtles the ancients speak of. AElian assures us, that the houses in the island of Taprobane, are usually covered with a single shell.  Diodorus Siculus tells us, that a people neighbouring on Ethiopia, called the Turtle-eaters, coasted along the shore in boats made of the upper shell of this animal; and that in war when they had eaten the flesh, the covering served them as a tent.  In this account, Pliny, and all the rest of the ancients agree; and as they had frequent opportunities of knowing the truth, we are not lightly to contradict their testimony.

          At present, however, they are not seen of such amazing dimensions.  We are told, by Laet, that on the isle of Cuba they grow to such a size, as that five men can stand on the back of one of them together; and what is more surprizing still, that the animal does not seem overloaded, but will go off with them upon its back, with a slow steady motion, towards the sea.

          They are found in the greatest numbers on the island of Ascension; where, for several years, they were taken to be salted to feed the slaves, or for a supply of ship’s provision.  Their value at present seems to be better known.

          This animal seldom comes from the sea but to deposit its eggs, and now and then to sport in fresh water.  Its chief food is a submarine plant, that covers the bottom of several parts of the sea not far from the shore.  There the turtles are seen, when the weather is fair, feeding in great numbers like flocks of sheep, several fathoms deep, upon the verdant carpet below.  At other times the go to the mouths of rivers, and they seem to find gratification in fresh water.  After some time thus employed, they seek their former stations; and when done feeding, they generally float with their heads above water, unless they are alarmed by the approach of hunters of birds of prey, in which case they suddenly plunge to the bottom.  They often seek their provision among the rocks, feeding upon moss and sea-weed; and it is probable will not disdain to prey upon insects and other small animals, as they are very fond of flesh when taken and fed for the table.

          At the time of breeding, they are seen to forsake their former haunts and their food, and to take sometimes a voyage of nine hundred miles to deposit their eggs on some favourite shore.  The coasts they always resort to upon these occasions are those that are low, flat and sandy; for being heavy animals, they cannot climb a bold shore; nor is any bed so proper as sand to lay their eggs on.  They couple in March, and continue united until May; during a great part of which time they are seen locked together, and almost incapable of separation.  The female seems passive and reluctant; but the male grasps her with his claws in such a manner, that nothing can induce him to quit his hold.  It would seem that the grasp, as in frogs, is in some measure convulsive, and that the animal is unable to relax its efforts.

          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.  When she perceives any person on shore, she seeks for another place; but if otherwise she lands when it is dark, and goes to take a survey of the sand where she designs to lay.  Having marked the spot, she goes back, without laying for that night, to the ocean again; but the next night returns to deposit a part of her burden.  She begins by working and digging in the sand with her fore-feet till she has made a round hole, a foot broad and a foot and an half deep, just at the place a little above where the water reaches highest.  This done, she lays eighty or ninety eggs at a time; each as big as a hen’s egg, and as round as a ball.  She continues laying about the space of an hour; during which time, if a cart were driven over her, she would not be induced to stir.  The eggs are covered with a tough, white skin, like wetted parchment.  When she has done laying, she covers the hole so dexterously, that it is no easy matter to find the place; and they must be accustomed to the search to make the discovery.  When the turtle has done laying, she returns to the sea, and leaves her eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun.  At the end of fifteen days she lays about the same number of eggs again; and at the end of another fifteen days she repeats the same; three times in all, using the same precautions every time for their safety.

          In about twenty-four days after laying, the eggs are hatched by the heat of the sun; and the young turtles, being about as big as quails, are seen bursting from the sand, as if earth-born, and running directly to the sea, with instinct only for their guide: but, to their great misfortune, it often happens that, their strength being small, the surges of the sea, for some few days, beat them back upon the shore.  Thus exposed, they remain a prey to thousands of birds that then haunt the coasts; and these stooping down on them carry off the greatest part, and sometimes the whole brood, before they have strength sufficient to withstand the waves, or dive to the bottom.  Helbigius informs us, that they have still another enemy to fear, which is no other than the parent that produced them, which waits for their arrival at the edge of the deep, and devours as many as she can.  This circumstance, however, demands further confirmation; though nothing is more certain, than that the crocodile acts in the same unnatural manner.

          When the turtles have done laying, they then return to their accustomed places of feeding.  Upon their out-set to the shore, where they breed, they are always found fat and healthy; but upon their return, they are weak, lean, and unfit to be eaten.  They are seldom, therefore, molested upon their retreat; but the great art is to seize them when arrived, or to intercept their arrival.  In these uninhabited islands, to which the green turtle chiefly resorts, the men that go to take them land about night-fall, and without making any noise (for those animals, though without any external opening of the ear, hear very distinctly, there being an auditory conduit that opens into the mouth) lie close while they see the female turtle coming on shore.  They let her proceed to her greatest distance from the sea; and then, when she is most busily employed in scratching a hole in the sand, they sally out and surprize her.  Their manner is to turn her upon her back, which utterly incapacitates her from moving; and yet, as the creature is very strong and struggles very hard, two men find it no easy matter to lay her over.  When thus secured, they go to the next; and in this manner, in less than three hours, they have been known to turn forty or fifty turtles, each of which weighs from an hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds.  Labat assures us, that when the animal is in this helpless situation, it is heard to sigh very heavily, and even seen to shed tears.

          At present, from the great appetite that man has discovered for this animal, they are not only thinned in their numbers, but are also grown much more shy.  There are several other ways, therefore, contrived for taking them.  One is, to seize them when coupled together, at the breeding season, when they are very easily approached, and as easily seen; for these animals, though capable of living for some time under, yet rise every eight to ten minutes to breathe.  As soon as they are thus perceived, two or three people draw near them in a canoe, and flip a nooze either round their necks or one of their feet.  If they have no line, they lay hold of them by the neck, where they have no shell, with their hands only; and by this means, they usually catch them both together.  But sometimes the female escapes, being more shy than the male.

          Another way of taking them, is by the harpoon, either when they are playing on the surface of the water, or feeding at the bottom; when the harpoon is skilfully darted, it sticks fast in the shell of the back; the wood then disengages from the iron, and the line is long enough for the animal to take its range; for if the harpooner should attempt at once to draw the animal into his boat before it is wakened by its own struggling, it would probably get free.  Thus the turtle struggles hard to get loose, but all in vain; for they take care the line fastened to the harpoon shall be strong enough to hold it.

          There is yet another way, which, though seemingly aukward, is said to be attended with very great success.  A good diver places himself at the head of the boat; and when the turtles are observed, which they sometimes are in great numbers, asleep on the surface, he immediately quits the vessel, at about fifty yards distance, and keeping still under water, directs his passage to where the turtle was seen, and, coming up beneath, seizes it by the tail; the animal awakening, struggles to get free; and by this both are kept at the surface until the boat arrives to take them in.