Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-05-23

1
of the bush a ways. and then strikes for
the water, perhaps two hundred feet
from where she come up; so all ye
know when We find tracks is that the
nest is somewhere between .em. and a
green hand is like to make still hunt
for it.
Sometimes as many as a dozen are
turned in night, and sometimes nary
one. They like bright moonlight nights
though. The next morning we git 'em
into the dingy and then rig block and
tackle and git 'em aboard the smack
and run for Key West. Most skippers
that make any business of turtlin' have
crawls on the flats on the northwest
side of the Key. Crawls? Wall, crawls's
a place where turtles can't crawl out.
Nothin' but fenced in place in four or
five feet of water, and into this all the
turtles is put to he kept till called for,
as Capt. Kidd said when he buried the
pot o. gold On these crawlS, or those
of the ConchS, we call when we work
up along The turtles are taken out
and slowed on their backs and dashed
with water, and live for any time.
What are the Conchs? Wall, they're
a part of the population of Key West,
livin' in part called Conchtown, and
supposed to live on conchS. But |
never see one eat one, and | reckoh
nothin' but grouperS would tackle 'em.
The COnchs have a curious way of
catchin' turtles with peg. Spearin'
We might call it, but the spear is a peg,
loollin' Jest like about two inches off
the end of three-Sided file. That ere
is made fast to long grouper line
about as big rs our cod line, and made
to fit into a long pole. With this rig
they scull over the reef with Il dingy,
and when they see turtle asleep on
the bottom or lying on top, they let
him have it. You'd think such a plug
would pull out, but il don't; suction
keeps it in, and a big loggerhead will
pull boat a couple o miles afore they
git it alongside Then, agin, it don't
hurt the critter; only sticks i'll the shell,
and can he worked right out, which Il
barbed spear couldn't.
There's another turtle they git on
the reef-the hawksbill I; they're fine
eatin', but the shell is the most valua
BILE, bein' made into combs and the like.
On the South America coast they take
the shell off by roastin', and lettin' the
critter go to grow another. Did We
ever seea Gallapas turtle? No. Wall,
there's a terrapin for YOU. Land tur-
ties four feet long and three feet high
that'll tote along man or three of 'em
just like a horse. | landed on the
island in 81 and brought away a half
a dozen of 'em. The whole island is
marked with their tracks leadin' from
the water up into the cones. They re
the biggest land turtles a-livin', but
there amt much call for 'em except for
curiositieS. The biggest sea turtle to-
day is the Leather turtle, sometimes
weighin' two thousand pounds. The
back is made up of one piece, havin' no
scales like the others. They are pretty
rare, bein' found only out to sea.
There's big one in New London they
say. The owner gave it led eyes and
stuffed il all out of shape, and shows 1t
every year as the great sea monster,
and actually don't know himself what
he's shOwin'.n
The Galapagos turtle mentioned by
the skipper is from gigantic stock.
Several years ago some worklnen eNca-
vations in lower India, when they came
on to what was evidently a house at
least such the natives considered it. 1t
was carefully unearthed, and turned
out to be the shell of an enormous tur-
tie that lived during the tertiary period.
1t was fourteen feet long and nine feet
high, and competent naturaliSts express
ed the opinion that when alive ii must
have been twenty-five long. 1t was a
land tortoise, and cTawled about like
our common wood tortoiSeS of to-day,
making footprints as large as those of
an elephant. In the Western country
known as the Ball Lands hundreds of
fossil turtles have been found, their III
teriors filled with solid rock, once the
sand or muddy lake or sea bed III which
they lived.
On one of the Government eXpedi-
tions turtle, perhaps thirty feet in
length, WAS found, which, curiousity
enough, had rudimentary Characters
tics, showing it to be missing link, as
it were, connecting other forms. 1t
was forefather of the great leather
turtle of to-day. Its length from iiipper
To fiipper was over seventeen feet,
making it the largest turtle yet known.