Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-05-06


on mile further.
A tangled mass of scrub palmetto
with thick roots ard broad leaves, over
hung an excavation in a sand-bank
near and beneath this. in hollow an
in deep shade, l took my seat "
ound broke upon the air except tina
Of the suef; not living or moving ob
iect was III sight in all the long stretcl
Of beach | could command on eitheI
! SHE OF me.
Spreading an old coat upon the sand
| sat down with NV gun across IN,
knee and waited. Oar desire was &c
get the turtle as she left for the Sc,
after leaving her eggs, and also identi
fy the exact spot in which she piacet
them.
After the eggs are once buried in the
sand, this is no easy matter, as there il
nothing to indicate their presence
Experienced egg-collectors walk the
beach, in the season, with long rods ii
their hands, with which they probe the
sand; they can tell by the looseness on
firmness of the sand whether it has
been recently disturbed. and at once
dig when they find a difference il the
resistance offered.
One hour, two hours, / waited. II
was getting cold, and / was growing
tired. Up and down the beach looked
and saw nothing but the white surf and
sand.
Nothing? A dark object at that mo.
ment seemed to rest in the surf. Watch.
ing it, defined it growing into shape,
and emerge upon the sand. Very
slowly it moved up the sand, inch by
inch its huge bulk was carried on, till
it was half way up the beach.
1t was three hundred yards away, but
did not seek to lessen the distance be-
tween us, for fear it would return to
the sea at sight of me. When it had
reached it's destination and begun to
dig would be the safest period.
AT last it seemed to have settled upon
a spot to its mind, and commenced to
fling the sand about with it's hind
fippers. Soon. it had nearly hidden it.
self, and had dug purrow, by the
time l reached it, nearly three feet
deep.
At my approach it protruded its head
and gave utterance to kissing noise,
but did not offer to escape, and stood
watching it while it laid its eggs in the
hole.
This took a long while, for there
must have been hundred, and I was
beginning to get impatient, when it
seemed to conclude it had done it's d ut J
for that night. and crawled out of the
hole. 1t then carefully covered the
eggs with sand, smoothing the place of
deposit over with as much care as
though one OF her enemies had not
been watching her all the time, and then
prepared to depart.
"Now, madam" thought I, sis my
tnrn-my turn to turn you over"
The sea.turtles, once turned upon
their backs, cannot regain their feet,
conseq uently it is only necessary to
turn one over to capture it for good and
all.
Selling fipper, and laying hold be-
meath the upper she'll, bore my
strength against it; but in vain--I
could not make it bulge an inch. The
turtle was not inactive all this time, for
it was scratching desperately, throwing
Up great ahowsrs, OF sand, which near
~ blinded me, and all the while work.
ing its way towards the sea.
I shouted for Jim; but he was far out
of hearing, and l was obliged to strug-
gle on alone. 1t was humiliating to
have to give up. l. could at least,
thought, prevent the turtle from reach.
ing the water till Jim's arrival.
But though ] exerted all my strength
she gradually lessened the distance be-
tween herself and the water, and finally
was within q rod of il.
A thought struck me, if could
shoot her in the head, I might wound
her badly enough to stop her, if I did
not kill her.. l started up the beach
for my gun, where had left it leaning
against the bank, seized it, and darted
back just as the water closed over the
turtles back.
This was an awful disappointment;
our turtle steaks had gone to sea, but
the eggs were left. Digging them out,
however, was not so easily nor so
quickly done as I had imagined it
would be. With my hands I could not
begin to make the progress the turtle
had made with her fippers; but after a
while they lay uncovered, and drew
ont, one after another, eight dozen
eggs.
These eggs were about two inches in
diameter, white, covered with leathery
skin; they are not so good. in my opin-
ion, as the eggs of fowl, having q
naealy feeling in the mouth.
1 lay the eggs in a pile, and waited
for Jim. It was an hour before he
came along, swinging in his hand an
opossum he had captured in the scrub.
His disappointment was great; but
when I showed him the track OF the
turtle, and the evidences of our strug-
gle, he agreed that the turtle must have
been an immense one, and that he could
have done no better himself, alone and
unassisted.
He then took off his jacket, tied up
the sleeves and filed it with the turtle
eggs, and we carried them to camp be-
tween US.
10 remarked to me az We marched
along, "The bear amt been here to-
night, that's certin'; but he's goin' to be
here to-morrar. I'm willin' to bet a
heap on it."