THE TORTOISE—THE TURTLE. 333

can be heard at a distance of more than a hundred yards.
The female never uses her voice and the male only at such
times. They were at this season (the month of October)
laying their eggs. The female, where the soil is sandy,
deposits them together and covers them up with sand; but
where the ground is rocky she drops them indiscriminately
in any hollow. Mr. Bynoe found seven placed in a line on
a fissure. The egg is white and spherical; one which I measured
was seven inches and three-eighths in circumference. The
inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf,
certainly they do not overhear a person walking close behind
them. I was always amused when overtaking one of these
great monsters as it was quietly pacing along, to see how
suddenly, the instant I paused, it would draw in its head
and legs, and uttering a deep hiss, fall to the ground with
a heavy sound as if struck dead. I frequently got on their
backs, and then, upon giving a few raps on the hinder parts
of the shell, they would rise up and walk away, but I found
it very difficult to keep my balance. The flesh of these
animals is largely employed, both fresh and salted; and a
beautiful clear oil is prepared from the fat. When a tortoise
is caught, the man makes a slit in the skin, near its tail, so
as to see inside its body whether the fat under the dorsal
plate is thick. If it is not, the animal is liberated; and is
said to recover soon from this strange operation. In order
to secure the tortoises it is not sufficient to turn them, like
turtles, for they are often able to regain their upright position.”

The Turtle. The Green Turtle is the turtle of the famous
soup. It is a large animal, measuring five or six feet in length
and weighing from five hundred to six hundred pounds; it
feeds on sea-weeds and is found in large numbers in the
seas of warm latitudes. The species from which we get the
horny substance known as tortoiseshell (Chelonia Imbricata,
is sometimes called the Hawk’s-bill turtle. It is a smaller
variety, measuring about three feet and belonging to tropical