The best months for procuring the hawk-billed turtle are from July to December, and from December to March the green turtle are easily obtained, those being the laying seasons.
They both lay many hundreds of eggs in large holes, which they scoop out with their fins in the sand, and, having covered them over, they leave them to be hatched by the sun and by time.
It is worthy of remark that the hawk-billed turtle comes on shore to lay during the day, and the green turtle, with but few exceptions, during the night. The Seychellois call the hawk-billed turtle “Caret,” and the green turtle “Tortue.”
These islands have obtained a world-wide celebrity, from being the only place yet known where the Coco de Mer (the most curious of the palms, so justly styled by Linnæus the prince of the vegetable kingdom), is found. This species of palm—known as the Ladoicea Sechellarum, the double cocoa-nut, the Coco de Mer, the Cocos Maldivicus of Rumphius, and Nux Medica of Clusius—is from 50 to 120 feet in height, and from 12 to 15 inches in diameter, with scarcely any difference in size to the top, where it is crowned with a tuft of leaves; and the whole of the stem is so flexible that the tops of those trees which stand in each other’s vicinity strike against and chafe each other in a strong breeze.
On the stem rings, four inches apart, mark the annular age of this palm, which, even in this archipelago, is confined to Praslin, Curieuse, and Ronde, on which islands alone it appears to bear fruit.
The leaves are very large and open, like a fan; they are from 20 to 30 feet in length, including the petiole, which is of sufficient strength to support a man.
The tree is twenty or thirty years old before it bears fruit, and always 130 years are required before it attains its full development.
The fruit is generally double, sometimes triple and even quadruple; when young the fruit is refreshing, and not unlike ice sherbet in appearance, and in taste it somewhat resembles the common cocoa-nut, and is remarkably cold when taken out of the shell.
The germ when developed is a sweet dish. The fruit remains on the tree about three years, and when ripe it drops off the tree and is no longer fit for food. In a few months, if not exposed to the rays of the sun, the fallen nut germinates and a new plant is formed.