The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-11-29
TURTLES IN SAMOA.
a Matter of Theology Involved in an
Interesting Experiment in
That Island.

Hc oOutu bVa luTtle, tHOuRH kmdil
er, is just as rich an article of die
as the green turtle of the West In
dies. The ocean about Samoa swarmi
with turtles, and on certain of the Is
lands there are beaches much fire.
quented by them in the season of lay
ing their eggs. From one of these
beaches a resident of Apia obtained
half dozen tutles alive. He had some
sort of an idea that by keeping them
tor awhile and then turning them
loose they would esta blish themselves
ON his beach and return regularly in
the egg season. 1t was taking the.
ury; it had been proved to work in
the case of brook trout and Goldfish
and it should succeed in the case OF
the turtle. He built large pen on his
beach in the suburb of Vaiala. It's
walls were guaranteed turtle-proof;
they included nice sunny beach, a
shady stretch OF trees, pool which
the tide never emptied.
Every precaItion was taken that the
turtles should not escape. and by their
escape spoil the experiment. Every
provision was made for the comfort of
the captives and the supply was gen.
erous of such articles as it was sup
posed that the turtles fed upon. The
new proprietor of this acclimation sta
tion set before him the task of habit
uating his turtles by kind treatment
and hup6 anna of food n b;e ,1,,+;a,,
lar beach. But there were Others who
saw in it nothing but turtle farm,
and al the same time that the expert
menter was making n vain effort to get
his pets to come al whistle these
others were watching with watering
mouths the fattenng of the turtles.
One fine morning there was break
in the fence Of the turtle pen. In the
darkness the wall had been thrown
down and the captives had vanished.
The experiment in acclimat ation of sea
turtles was at an end Very naturally
suspicion fell on the Samoan popula-
ton of Vaiala. II hardly seemed pos
sible that the turtles could destroy the
wall after II had stood against them
% long. But Vaiela as a community
was shocked at the suspicion that IL
would commit theft and interfere With
an experiment. which would result so
much to the advantage Of the village.
And there was another reason whythe
village could not have done the foul
deed. 1t was not thing to speak of
In public. but the chief of the town
came privately and divulged II. In the
old days Of heathendom the vaiala god
inhabited the turtle. and it would have
been death to any vaiala man 10 eat
turtle meat. Now they were all Chris
tans, but, the people were supersu-
tious and would not have anything to
do with turtle.
With equal privacy the native pastor
called and rehearsed the same sad
as to the efficacy Of his min
lstry, converted though they might be
from their old paganism. vaiala was
yet too superstitious TO have anything
to do with the missing turtles. Elders
Of the town council, maids of the vii
lage, ancient crones who were sup
posed to be as wise as witches. each
came under the veil of secrecy and con-
fidence with full confession of the |
positive sanctity of turtles in vaiala, |
and as a result of that superstition the |
certainty that the preserved animals |
had escaped and had not been eaten
~ the neighbors.
1t Is problem in ethics. The pen
vas surely strong enough to hold theI
turtles. The turtle was really the an
,estral god OF Vaiala. and as such not |
% be eaten when they were yet in
leathendom. Yet Vaiala smiled as
hose smile who have eaten turtle with
10 qualms of theology.-N. Y. Sun.