cutting their throats. About three hundred Turtle, of four or five hundred pounds each, lay on the sand, or swam about in the ponds; a sight to set an alderman mad with delight.

"In the hot months of January, February, March, and April, the females land at night; and waddling over the sands in the various bays of

the island far above high-water mark,-for by a pole in the ponds, the tide only rises here two feet, they scrape up, by alternate scoops of their flippers, a hole deep enough to cover their bodies. Into this they get, sighing heavily, and deposit

from one hundred and fifty to two hundred eggs; cover them up, leave them to the sun to hatch, and then waddle again towards the sea. Two stout hands are, meanwhile, on the look out, watching the movements of the unfortunate Turtle; and running up to her after the completion of her task, one seizes a fore-flipper, and dexterously shoves it under her belly, to serve as a purchase, whilst the other, avoiding a stroke which might lame him, casts the Turtle over on her back, where she lies helpless. From fifteen to thirty are thus turned in a night; and six hundred had been so captured in the season of 1834. In the bays, where the surf, or heavy rollers, prevent the boats being beached to take on board the Turtle when caught, they are hauled out to them by ropes.

"No ships' crews are now allowed to turn Turtle, which is converted into a government monopoly; and two pounds ten shillings is the price for each. Strange to say, from the time that the young Turtle, the size of a dollar, are observed scuttling down to the water, they are never seen again here until they are four or five hundred pounds weight; and how long they take to attain this great size, and where they spend the intermediate time, is as yet a mystery. I was surprised to hear that Turtle are kept in the ponds for a year and upwards, without a morsel of food of any kind. They sometimes deposit their eggs in the sand, on the sides of the ponds; and in due time the little animals are allowed to make

their escape to the sea. One old female, called Nelson,' because one of her flippers had been carried off by a shark, was kept, out of respect,

for two or three years in the ponds. She contrived, however, one night to crawl round the enclosure, and make her escape; but she was turned next year in Clarence Bay. Another Turtle was also turned there, a short time since, on the back shell of which was carved the name of a mate of a British vessel, who had bought it and sailed with it three weeks before; it is probable that, imagining it to be dead, he had thrown it overboard. The best way to send home Turtle from Ascension, is to head them up' in a sealed cask, and have the water changed daily by the bung-hole and a cock. Turtle, though the extremes of heat and cold are injurious to them, should always arrive in hot weather in England. Thus, an unfortunate captain, on one occasion, took from Ascension two hundred Turtle, and timing his arrival badly, brought only four alive to Bristol!"

Catesby mentions a mode of capturing these animals besides turning them on the sands. The inhabitants of the Bahamas are very expert at the latter, and go in boats to the neighbouring coast of Cuba, where on moonlight nights they watch the passing of the female Turtles to and from their nests, and intercepting them, turn them on their backs. Leaving each as it is turned, they proceed along the shore, turning every one they meet with; knowing that they will find each on their return in the position in which it was left; for the Turtle, lying on its back, can never recover its feet by any efforts of its own. Some are so large, as to require three men to turn them. But the way in which these creatures are most commonly taken at the Ba

hamas, is by striking them with a sharp iron peg or spear-head of two inches long, set in a socket at the end of a staff twelve feet long. Two men set out on this employment in a light canoe, one to paddle noiselessly in the stern, while the other stands watchful in the bow, ready to strike. As soon as a Turtle is perceived, either swimming at the surface with the back exposed, or else crawling at the bottom in shoal water among the thick sea grass, the spear is darted at it. The sharp point enters the shell, and pierces the body, but is dislodged from the staff in the act; a slender line, however, fastened to the peg, is in the hand of the spearman, and though the Turtle speeds away, the canoe is enabled to keep up with him; his strength is soon spent, and he is hauled to the surface, and lifted into the boat.

In some of the isles of the Pacific, where the natives are almost as much at home in the sea as the Turtles themselves, a peculiarly dexterous method of capturing these animals is adopted. Two or three men go out in a canoe in smooth water, when the Turtles delight to sleep on the surface, basking in the sun. No sooner is one discovered, than the ready diver plunges into the sea, and coming up silently behind the animal, suddenly seizes the hinder edge of the carapace before it awakes, and pressing down the posterior part of the body in the water, obliges the fore parts to remain upright. Thus the terrified Turtle, now thoroughly awakened, is prevented from diving until the canoe coming up, the bold fisherman and his prey are both taken on board.

Mr. Darwin, in his very interesting Journal, describes a method of Turtle-catching not very

dissimilar to the above, but superior in spirit and boldness. Keeling Island is the scene of his

graphic description. He observes,

"I accompanied Captain Fitzroy to an island at the head of the lagoon; the channel was exceedingly intricate, winding through fields of delicately branched corals. We saw several Turtles, and two boats were then employed in catching them. The method is rather curious; the water is so clear and shallow, that although at first a Turtle quickly dives out of sight, yet in a canoe or boat under sail, the pursuers after no long chase come up to it. A man standing ready in the bows at this moment dashes through the water upon the Turtle's back, then clinging with both hands by the shell of the neck, he is carried away till the animal becomes exhausted and is secured. It was quite an interesting sight to see the two boats thus doubling about, and the men dashing into the water, trying to seize their prey.

But there is a mode of fishing for these animals, said to be practised on the coasts of China and Mozambique, which is still more remarkable ; living fishes being trained for the purpose of capturing the Turtles. Columbus seems to have been aware of this fact, which has since been noticed by Commerson, as cited by Middleton and Salt. The fish used is a species of Echeneis or Remora, and the following is the method used by the natives of those parts. Their little boat is provided with tubs, in which are a number of these fishes, the top of whose head is covered with an oval plate, soft and fleshy at the circumference, but furnished in the middle with an apparatus of bony pieces, very complicated in its