[Illustration: Catching Turtles on the Coast of Cuba.]
It is not improbable that some of our readers, who reside near a great
commercial port, may have seen the landing of a cargo of strange-looking
animals, which, turned upon their backs, appear the most helpless of
creatures, and in this condition may have naturally led the spectator to
imagine that they are incapable of removing from place to place, and
have therefore little enjoyment of existence. These creatures, to use
the language of the epicure, are fine “lively turtles”--the term
“lively” being understood to mean that they have suffered little from a
long voyage--that they are in good health--and that the “green fat,” the
glory of aldermen, is in the most perfect state of excellence. Without
asking our readers to feel any very strong interest in the prospects of
high living which the arrival of a cargo of turtles offers to many
individuals who are somewhat too much inclined to set a high value upon
the gratifications of the palate, we may be able to satisfy a rational
curiosity as to the habits of these singular animals, which offer some
higher benefits to mankind than that of furnishing the most costly
luxury of a city feast.
The turtle and the tortoise belong to the same group of reptiles--in
fact the turtle is a tortoise which principally inhabits the water, and
is only found occasionally on the land. The two varieties represented in
the above plate are the Green Tortoise (_a_), and the Loggerhead
Tortoise (_b_). The former is the species chiefly used for food. It is
found, in great numbers, on the coasts of all the islands and continents
of the torrid zone. The shoals which surround these coasts are covered
with marine plants; and in these water pastures, which are near enough
to the surface to be readily seen by the naked eye in calm weather, a
prodigious abundance of animals, mostly amphibious, feed, and amongst
them multitudes of tortoises. Dampier, the old voyager, describing the
Gallapagos Islands, says, “There are good wide channels between these
islands fit for ships to pass; and in some places shoal water, where
there grows plenty of turtle grass; therefore these islands are
plentifully stored with sea turtle.” The tortoise, whether of the land
or water species, is, as most of our readers know, protected, both on
the back and belly, by a hollow shield, which is open at each end, for
the issuing of the head and fore-feet at one time, and the tail and
hind-feet at another.
The upper shield is termed the back-plate, or buckler; the lower shield
the breast-plate. The middle of the buckler, in most of the species, is
covered by numerous pieces or plates resembling horn in texture and
composition; and the beautiful substance known by the name of
tortoise-shell is obtained principally from a small species called the
Hawksbill. The feet of the marine tortoises are much longer than those
of the land, and their toes are united by a membrane so that they swim
with great facility. The head, feet, and tail are covered with small
scales. The jaws of the wide mouth are not provided with teeth, but the
jaw-bones are very hard and strong, and being at the same time very
rough, the animal is enabled to consume its vegetable food with ease,
and at the same time to crush the shell-fish on which the marine species
also feed. The green tortoise attains an enormous size and weight; some
individuals measuring six or seven feet in length from the tip of the
nose to the extremity of the tail, by three or four feet broad, and
weighing as much as eight hundred pounds. Dampier says, “I heard of a
monstrous green turtle once taken at Port Royal, in the bay of
Campeachy, that was four feet deep from the back to the belly, and the
belly six feet broad. Captain Rocky’s son, of about nine or ten years of
age, went in it (meaning in the shell) as in a boat, on board his
father’s ship about a quarter of a mile from the shore.” The green
tortoise commonly weighs from two to three hundred pounds.
The instinct which leads the female turtle to the shore to lay her eggs,
exposes her to the danger of becoming the prey of man. She deposits her
eggs on the loose sand, and abandons them at once to the chance, which
approaches almost to a certainty in the southern hemisphere, that they
will be hatched by the influence of the sun’s rays. She digs, by means
of her fore-feet, one or more holes about a foot wide and two feet deep,
in which she usually deposits more than a hundred eggs. These eggs are
round, and are two or three inches in diameter; they are covered with a
membrane something like wet parchment. The female generally lays three
times in each year, at intervals of about a fortnight or three weeks.
They almost always go ashore in the night time. A loose sand being
essential to the hatching of the eggs, the turtles frequent only
particular shores; but these are often several hundred miles from their
feeding places. The eggs are hatched in less than a month after they are
laid; and in about eight or ten days the young reptiles crawl to the
water. Few, however, reach their native element, in proportion to the
number produced. They become the prey of sea-fowl and various quadrupeds
of prey. The tiger is an especial enemy to the tortoise; but man is
still more actively engaged in their destruction. The collection of
tortoise eggs forms one of the most important of the occupations of the
Indians of the Orinoco. Humboldt has given a most interesting account of
this branch of commerce, of which we shall furnish an abstract in a
future number.
The wood-cut at the head of this article represents the manner in which
the marine tortoises are caught on the coast of Cuba, and on parts of
the South American continent. The Count de Lacepede, in his History of
Oviparous Quadrupeds, has described the various modes in which the
business of tortoise-catching is carried on; and we shall conclude this
notice with an abstract of his account. It must be remarked that the
turtle is a most important addition to the ordinary mode of victualling
a ship; and that, therefore, the war in which the human race engages
against them is rendered absolutely necessary by the wants of
navigators. The turtles which are demanded in England for the
gratification of a luxurious appetite, constitute a very small number,
when compared with those which offer an agreeable and salutary food to
the hardy crews who are engaged in the commerce of the tropical seas.
“In spite of the darkness which is chosen by the female tortoises for
concealment when employed in laying their eggs, they cannot effectually
escape from the pursuit of their enemies: the fishers wait for them on
the shore, at the beginning of the night, especially when it is
moonlight, and, either as they come from the sea, or as they return
after laying their eggs, they either dispatch them with blows of a club,
or turn them quickly over on their backs, not giving them time either to
defend themselves, or to blind their assailants, by throwing up the sand
with their fins. When very large, it requires the efforts of several men
to turn them over, and they must often employ the assistance of
handspikes or levers for that purpose. The buckler of this species is so
flat as to render it impossible for the animal to recover the recumbent
posture, when it is once turned on its back.
“A small number of fishers may turn over forty or fifty tortoises, full
of eggs, in less than three hours. During the day, they are employed in
securing those which they had caught in the preceding night. They cut
them up, and salt the flesh and the eggs. Sometimes they may extract
above thirty pints of a yellow or greenish oil from one large
individual; this is employed for burning, or, when fresh, is used with
different kinds of food. Sometimes they drag the tortoises they have
caught, on their backs, to enclosures, in which they are reserved for
occasional use.
“The tortoise fishers from the West Indies and the Bahamas, who catch
these animals on the coasts of Cuba and its adjoining islands,
particularly the Caymanas, usually complete their cargoes in six weeks
or two months; they afterwards return to their own islands, with the
salted turtle, which is used for food both by the whites and the
negroes. This salt turtle is in as great request in the American
colonies, as the salted cod of Newfoundland is in many parts of Europe;
and the fishing is followed by all these colonists, particularly by the
British, in small vessels, on various parts of the coast of Spanish
America, and the neighbouring desert islands.
“The green tortoise is likewise often caught at sea in calm weather, and
in moon-light nights. For this purpose two men go together in a small
boat, which is rowed by one of them, while the other is provided with a
harpoon, similar to that used for killing whales. Whenever they discover
a large tortoise, by the froth which it occasions on the water in rising
to the surface, they hasten to the spot as quickly as possible, to
prevent it from escaping. The harpooner immediately throws his harpoon
with sufficient force to penetrate through the buckler to the flesh; the
tortoise instantly dives, and the fisher gives out a line, which is
fixed to the harpoon, and, when the tortoise is spent with loss of
blood, it is hauled into the boat or on shore.”
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THE FLEMISH LANGUAGE.--No. 2.
Perhaps our readers may not be unwilling to see a few more specimens of
the Flemish language. It should be stated that this book of dialogues,
from which our last specimens were taken, contains at the end a kind of
manual of good manners, it being the opinion of the writer--“that youth
have long been in want of a treatise on manners, which should be based
upon our usages, and adapted to the state of our knowledge.”
We give a few of the maxims of this Dutch Chesterfield for the use of
those whom they may concern.