Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-06
TORTOISE SHELL HUNTING
The Process is One of Extreme
Cruelty.
Fires Set on the Living Turtle to
Separate the Bony Layers of the
House He Lives In,
From the New York Post.

There are many articles Of daily and
| hourly use, constantly pressing before our
eyes and through our hands, about the pro-
duction Of which we know comparatively
| little or nothing. An interesting example
Of this is tortoise shell, from which combs
| and hairpins are made, besides multitude
| Of trinkets for the dressing tables, the desk
| and tie pocket. Fierce crusades have been
| instituted in recent years against the
slaughter of birds for the procurement of
their plumage for hat trimmings. and yet
| I venture to say that the process of procur-
| ing tortoise shell is cruelty to animal life
which far exceeds that to which birds are
subjected.
In the eighties / happened to be down in
Bluefelds. on that awful Mosquito coast,
and at the invitation of one Manuel La
| tona, VINO was the owner and captain of a
small schooner. went with him to the cay
FL Roncador for tortoise shell. This cay
gets its name (Which in English would be
The Snorer) from the exceedingly angry
surf, which can be heard for a long dis
lance breaking over the reefs. This is the
cay on which. a couple Of years back the
historic Old ship Constitution was wrecked
| and battered to pieces. Ell Roncador is
nothing more nor less than a typical coral
| island, such Is found throughout the
southern seas, three-quarters of a mile
long, perhaps, and not more than quarter
of a mile across it's widest part Surround
| ing the island is a reef, inside of which the
water is smooth and rather shallow; and at
the bottom of this shallow water there
grows a peculiar kind of sea grass, which
IS a dainty food for the turtle tribes. There
is also found on the top of the water inside
the reef sort Of small blubber fish, called
in Spanish dedalcs, thimble fish, which
is, perhaps, the greatest delicacy of the en-
tire turtle menu.
The turtle whose shell Is valued in COM
| merce is a small species known as the
hawks bill. There are other varieties which
come to FL Roncador to spawn, but they
| are not molested. During the night the
turtles crawl up on the shore to lay their
eggs, each female depositing on an average
about seventy. To do this they dig holes
| in the sand about two feet deep, and after
laying the eggs cover them over SO deity
that 1t Is almost impossible for a novice to
md them. These eggs are really delicious
| WHEN roasted, but the turtle fishers are
careful not to destroy those they do not
take for food, SO as to promote as much as
possible the increase Of this valuable sea
reptile. At night the fishers conceal them
selves along the shore as well as possible,
and when the turtles come up out of the
water on the beach, they rush forth and
turn them over on their back with iron
hooks leaving them secure in this position
until morning.
The tortoise shell of commerce is not. as
generally believed, the horny covering or
shell proper of the turtle: it is the scales
which cover the shield. These scales are
thirteen In number, eight of them being
| fiat and the other five somewhat curved
| -Four OF those that are fiat are quite large
sometimes being rs much as twelve inches
long and seven inches broad, nearly trans
parent and beautifully variegated in color
with red. yellow. white and dark brown
clouds, which give the effects so fully
brought out when the shell is properly poi-
lshed. A turtle of average size will furnish
about eight pounds of these laminae or
scales each piece being from an eighth to a
quarter of an inch in thickness.
1t IS the method by which these scales
are ioosened which is the repulsiye part of
the business. The turtles are not killed.
as That would lead to their determination
IN very few years. After capturing them
the fishers wait for daylight to complete
the work. The turtles are turned over
again Iii their natural position and fastened
nrmly to the ground by means of pegs:
then bunch of dried leaves or seagrass
Is spread evenly over the back of the turtle
and set affre. The heat is not great enough
70 lnJure the Shell, merely causing it to
separate the joints. A large blade very
similar in shape to chemists spatula is
then inserted horizontally between the lam
mae, which are gently pried from the hack
Great care must be taken not to injure the
shel by too much heat, and yet it is NOT
forced off until it is fully prepared for SEN
aration by sufficient amount of warmth.
Inc operation, as one may readily mag
Inc, is the extreme of cruelty, and MANY
turtles &c not survive it. Most of them do
live, however, and thrive and in time CROW,
new covering, just as a man will grow a
new finger nail in place of one he might
lose The popularity of the second growth
1 " snei: tnougn, Is that instead of repro
ouc1ns the original number of thirteen seq
ments, 1t is restored in one solid piece
10 see the operation of taking the shell
from the living turtle once is about ali a
~ OF northern breeding wants of it; and
II the helpless reptiles had the power of
Volcing their sufferings under it, their cries
would tell Of as heartless a business az
man has yet engaged in.