TURTLES are of two kinds,—of the family Trionycidx or fresh-water turtles, and of the Cheloniffin or marine turtles, viz.:— Turtles, Trionycidm.
Emyda granosa, Gunth., India.
E. Ceylonensis, Gunth., Ceylon.
E. vitrata, Peters, Goa.
Trionyx Sinensis, Wiegm., China, Chusan, Formosa. T. Gangeticus, Nepal, Ganges, Penang.
T. Javanicus, Schtv., India, Java.
T. ornatus, Gray, Siam, Cambogia, Borneo.
T. Guntheri, Oray, India.
Chitra Indica, Nepal, Malay, and Eastern Archipelagos.
Marine Turtles, Chelonidm.
Caouana olivacea, Gray, Indian seas.
C. caretta, Cape seas.
Chelonia virgata, Gray, Indian coasts.
Caretta squamata, Gunth., Archipelago, Maldives, Ceylon.
Dermatochelys coriacea, Gray, all seas.
Marine turtles form an important article of food, and their scales are the tortoise-shell of commerce. Four different kinds are distinguished at Cape York and the Prince of Wales Islands. Three species of these can be identified as the green, the hawk's-bill, Caretta squamata, and the loggerhead, Caouana olivacea ; and the fourth, a small one, which is said to be caught by a live sucking fish (Echeneis remora) being secured by a line passed round the tail, and thrown into the water in certain places known to be suitable for the purpose. The fish while swimming about makes fast by its sucker to any turtle of this small kind which it may chance to encounter, and both are hauled in together.
The green turtle is of so much consequence to the natives of the Archipelago, that they have distinguished it by a special name taken from the animal itself (Sulangi, from Sular). The season of the year when it is most plentiful at Cape York usually extends from about the middle of October until the end of November, but the limits are not constant. During the season they are to be seen floating about on the surface of the water, often in pairs, male and female together. A few are caught at night on the sandy beaches, but the greater number are captured in the water. The canoes engaged in turtling, besides going about in the day, are often sent out on calm moonlight nights. When a turtle is perceived, it is approached from behind as noiselessly as possible; when within reach, a man in the bow carrying the end of a small rope jumps out, aud, getting upon the animal's back, with a hand on each shoulder, generally contrives to turn it and secure it with the rope before it bas got far. This operation requires considerable strength and courage, in addition to the remarkable dexterity in diving and swimming possessed by all the blacks of the north-east coast of Australia and Torres Strait. There are some favourite look-out stations for turtle, where the tide runs strongly off a high rocky point. At many such places, distinguished by large cairns of .stones, bones of turtles, dugongs, etc., watch is kept during the season, aud when a turtle is perceived drifting past with the tide, the canoe is manned and sent in chase. At the islands of Talen-Talen many thousands could be easily procured. The Malays watch during the night, to ascertain where the turtle deposits her eggs, for as soon as she has finished her task, she covers them with her flippers with sand, and immediately retires into the sea. A piece of wood is then put up as a mark for the nest, which is rifled as occasion requires. It is
said as a curious fact, that the male turtle never lands. On the south-western coast of Ceylon, at certain seasons, the flesh of turtle is avoided as poisonous. At Pantura, to the south of Colombo, twenty-eight persons who had partaken of turtle, in October 1840, were immediately seized with sickness. The hawk's-bill turtle, which supplies the best tortoise-shell, was at former times taken in great numbers in the vicinity of Hambangtotte during the season, when they came to deposit their eggs. This gave rise to the trade in tortoise shell at Point de Galle, where it is still manufac tured into articles of ornament by the Muham rnadans, but the shell they employ is now almost entirely imported from the Maldives. If taken from the animal after death and deconiposing, the colour of the shell becomes clouded and milky, and hence the cruel expedient is resorted to of seizing the turtles as they repair to the shore to deposit tbeir eggs, and suspending them over fires till heat makes the plates on the dorsal shields to start from the bone of the carapace, after which the creature is permitted to escape to the water. At the period of breeding, the iden tical tortoise is believed to return again and again to the same spot, notwithstanding that at each visit.she may have to undergo a repetition of this torture. In the year 1826 a hawk's-bill turtle wa,s taken near Hambangtotte, in Ceylon, which bore a ring attached to one of its fins that had been placed there by a Dutch officer thirty years before, with a view to establish the fact of these recurring visits to the same beach. The finest tortoise-shell is exported from Celebes to China. The natives kill the turtle by blows on the head, and immerse the shell in boiling. water to detach the plates. Dry heat is only resorted to by the unskilful, who frequently destroy the tortoise-shell in the opera tion. Mention is made of a carapace about seven feet in length.
The rnidas turtle is said to lay from ten to twelve dozen of eggs, and Dermatochelya cori acea from eighteen to twenty dozen at once ; but many of the marine turtles lay from one hundred to two hundred and fifty. The eggs arc generally hatched by the sun in three weeks. On escaping from the eggs, the young are of a white colour, and in size a little larger than a rupee, but few survive the attacks of sea-birds, herons, and storks in their way to the ocean, and the sharks and shark-toothed fishes when there.
The flesh of the hawk's-bill turtle is not held in esteem, but the plates of its shell being thicker, stronger, and cleaner than those of any other species, it is of great importance as an article of trade. 1Yhen heated in boiling water, it softens, and by pressure c,an be made to assume any form, or two pieces can be made to adhere. In this state, gold, silver, and other Ineta,ls are made to adhere to tortoise-shell.
The loggerhead turtle, Caouana caretta, is common in the Mediterranean a,nd the Atlantic Oceans, less so in the Indo-Pacific. Of no com mercial value, as its flesh is not esteemed, and its tortoise - shell of inferior–quality. —Jour. Ind. Arch. ; -Tennent's Ceylon ; Gunther's Reptiles ; .1Iaeyillirray's Voyage; Marryal'a Arch.; Rohde, MSS.; Darosia, p. 517.