Many other modes are employed for capturing them. In the regions frequented by them in the breeding season, they are followed by their track on the sands, and their retreat cut off, when met with, by forming a circle round them, when they are thrown on their backs; hand-spikes sometimes being necessary to accomplish this from their great size. In this position they are helpless, and must remain until wanted, so that their enemies have time to pursue their sport elsewhere, as represented in [Fig. 41]. The next day they are collected or destroyed at leisure. In 1802 the crew of a French ship surprised a female Turtle on the Island of Lobos. The men had infinite trouble in making good its capture and throwing it on its back, for it was strong enough to drag them all towards the sea. It was at last mastered. Its head was as large as that of an infant, and its beak four times the size of a paroquet. It weighed two hundred and sixty pounds, and had in its body three hundred and forty-seven eggs. Turtles are also taken in nets, in the meshes of which their beaks and flippers get entangled; thus prevented from coming to the surface for air, they die of asphyxia. Others harpoon them on the open sea when they come to the surface to breathe. The harpoon is attached to a cord, by which the animal is soon brought to the surface and drawn into the boat. But the commonest mode of capture is approaching them in a boat as they float asleep on the surface—this must be done silently. When within reach, a back flipper is laid hold of by one of the crew, and by a sudden twist the Turtle is thrown on its back, when becoming helpless for the moment, it is dragged on board.
Fig. 42.—Hawk's-bill Turtle (Chelonia caretta).
A very curious mode of fishing for Turtle is pursued by means of small fish, a species of Echeneis or Remora. These small fish are provided with an oval plate on the head, which consists of a score of parallel plates, forming two series, furnished on their outer edge with an oval disk, soft and fleshy at its circumference; in the middle of this plate is a complicated apparatus of bony pieces dispersed across the surface, which can be moved on their axis by particular muscles, their free edges being furnished with small hooks, which are all raised at once like the points of a wool-card. The fishermen keep many of these fishes in buckets of water. When they see a sleeping Turtle they approach it, and throw one of these suck-fish into the sea. The fish dives under the Turtle, and fixes itself inextricably to it by means of their cephalic disk. As the fish is attached to a long cord by means of a ring in its tail, the fish is drawn on board along with its victim. This is line fishing of a new kind, in which the hook is living, and pursues its prey in the bosom of the deep.
The Green Turtle, whose flesh is celebrated for its delicacy and excellence of its fat, is that from which Turtle soup is made. Turtle soup is only of recent invention, the first Turtle having been brought to London by Admiral Anson in 1752. It was long a costly dish, and even now, although the introduction of steam and other adjuncts to navigation has greatly modified the expense, its price is about ten shillings per pound weight.
Fig. 43.—Loggerhead Turtle (Chelonia caouana).
Much of the tortoise-shell of commerce comes from the Green Turtle, but by far the finest specimens are produced by the Imbricated or Hawk's-bill Turtle, Chelonia caretta ([Fig. 42]). In this species the plates of the disk are imbricated, or lapping over each other, and thirteen in number. The muzzle is long and compressed; the jaws with straight edges, without dentation, curving slightly towards each other at their extremities, with two nails on each fin. It rarely attains the size or weight of the Green Turtle. The Hawk's-bill Turtle is met with in the Indian Ocean, and also on the American shores. It feeds on marine plants, on mollusks, and small fishes, and is chiefly sought after for its shell, which produces the finest tortoise-shell known; while its flesh is rendered unpalatable from its musky flavour. On the other hand, its eggs are excellent when fresh, and eagerly sought after.
In order to prepare the shell, it is softened by means of boiling after being torn from the animal's back. It is then flattened by being passed through a press, previous to being polished. In this condition it is ready for all sorts of ornamental work. The Loggerhead Turtle, or C. caouana ([Fig. 43]), like the Green Turtle, has its scales placed side by side. Its colour is brownish or deep maroon. It is found incidentally on the French and English coasts, and abounds in the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas. Its length is about four feet; its weight, from three to four hundred pounds. It is very voracious, and feeds principally on mollusks. Its shell is much valued, but its flesh is indifferent, and its fat altogether uneatable; however, it is used in some localities to make lamp-oil.
