Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-03-18


 Struck an Observer as Heartless.
 There are many articles of daily and hourly use constantly passing before our eyes and through our hands about the production of which we know com paratively little or nothing. An inter- esting example of this is tortoise shell, from which combs and hairpins are made, besides multitude of trinkets for. the dressing table, the desk and the pocket. Fierce erusades have been instituted in recent years against the slaughter of birds for the procurement of their plumage for hat trimmings and yet venture to say that the proc- ess of procuring tortoise shell is a cru city 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 Latona, who was the owner and captain of a small schooner, went with him to the cay El Roncador for tortoise shell. This cay gets it's name (which in English. would be the Snorer) from the exceedingly angry surf, which can be heard for long distance breaking over the reefs This is the cay on which a couple of years back the historic old ship Kearsarge was wrecked and bat tered to pieces. Fl Roncador is nothing more or less than typical coral is- land, such as is found throughout the southern seas, three-quarters of a mile long, perhaps, and not more than quarter of mile across its widest part Surrounding the island is a reef, inside of which the water is smooth and rath- CT shallow, and at the bottom of this shallow water there grows a peculiar kind of sea grass which is 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, or thimble fish, which Is perhaps the greatest delicacy of the entire turtle menu.
 The turtle whose shell is valued in commerce is a small species known as the hawk bill. There are other varie- ties which come to Fl Roncador to spawn, but they are not molested. Dur ing the night the turtles crawl up on the shove to lay their eggs, each female deposit1ng on an average about 70. To do this they dig holes in the sand about two feet deep and after laying the eggs cover them over 50 deftly that it is al- most impossible for. novice to find 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 themselves along the shore as we'll as possible, and when the turtles come up out of the water on the beach they rush forth and turn them over on their backs with iron hooks, leaving them secure in this position until morning.
 The tortoise she'll of commerce is not, as is generally believed, the horny cover ing or shell proper of the turtle; it is the scales which cover the shield. These scales are 13 in number, of them be- ing fiat and the other somewhat curved. Four of those that are fiat are quite large, sometimes being as much as 12 inches long and inches broad, nearly transparent and beautifully variegated in color with red, yellow, white and dark brown clouds, which give the ef- fects so fully brought out when the shell is properly polished A turtle of aver age size will furnish about eight pounds of these la.minae, or scales, each piece being from an eighth to quarter of an inch in thickness.
 It is the method by which these scales Rre loosened which is the repulsive part of the business. The turtles are not killed, as that would lead to their ex- termination in very few years. After capturing them the fishers wait for day light to complete the work The turtles are turned over again in their natural position and fastened firmly to the ground by means of pegs. Then a bunch of dried leaves or sea grass is spread evenly over the back of the turtle and set afire. The heat is not great enough to injure the shell, merely causing it to separate the joints. A large blade, very similar ill shape to a chemists spatula, is then inserted horizontally between the lamina, which are gently pried from the back. Great care must be talk en not to injure the shell by too much heat, and yet it is not forced off until it is fully prepared for separation by a sufficient amount of warmth
 The operation, as one may readily imagine, is the extreme of cruelty, and many turtles do not survive it. Most of them do live. however, and thrive, and in time grow new covering, just as q man will grow a new finger nail in place of one he might lose. The pecul- iarity of the second growth of shell, though, is that instead of reproducing