The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-11
CAPTURING TURTLES.
How Enormous Numbers of Them Are Taken on the Island of Ascension.

How Enormous Numbers of Them Are
 Taken on the Island of Ascension.
 One of the most favored spots ire quented by turtles is, or used to be, the desolate Island of Ascension, in the South Atlantic, barren volcanic patch belonging to Britain, and, because used exclusively as naval depot, entered upon the books of the admiralty as one of her majesty's ships. An enormous number of turtles were annually turn ed'' there, and preserved in small la goon from shipment to shipment. It was my pleasant privilege to assist at one of these turnings, and bear very vivid recollection of the game. Crouch ed low behind an immense powder one evening about 8 o'clock, we could hear a hollow, reverberating murmur of the mighty surf outside, suggesting sleepily irresistible force. A dazzling wreath of snowy foam, gleaming like furnished silver, fringed the quiet stretch of gilt tering sand, which, gently sloping up ward and landward, was bounded by gloomy bastions of black lava. Beyond that shining sefni-circle of glowing white lay the sombre blue-black bosom of the quiet little bay now heaving gently as that of a sleeping child. Hither and thither, threading its in scrutable depths, glided spectrally broad tracks of greenish light, vivid, yet ever brightening and fading, as if of living flame. Presently there emerg- ed from the retreating smother of spume creeping something of no very definite shape, under the glamour of the molten moonlight, but making an odd shuffling progress inland, and becoming more recognizable as 1t rose. Another, and yet another, and still more arrived as the shining tracks converged shore ward. At last the dark shapes came
 near enough for novice to know them for turtle. Soon the first corners reach ed their limit and began the work for which they had come. Each massive reptile, by an indescribable motion of its fore fiippers, delved into the yield ing grit, throwing the spoil behind it and upward withal until it was envel- oped in misty halo of shining sand. Then the whole beach was alive with | the toiling Chelones and their male at l tendants, who shuffled about, emitting curious noises, but whether of encour- agement or affection this deponent say- | eth not.
 Divers of them came from afar-so | far that none who have not witnessed | the swift cleaving of their true element l by the ungainly monsters could believe | how the wide sweep of those eager flip
 pers devours the heeting leagues In a short time many of the delving turtles l had sunk below the level of the sur
 rounding sand, while some had ceased | their digging and commenced to depos-
 it their eggs. Suddenly we rushed up-
 on them, and for some minutes the
 swarming beach was apparently a scene | of wild confusion. Really, the plan of attack was well ordered; and when the | first scurry was over nearly all the wis.,
 itors were to be seen wrong side up,
 waving their flippers deprecatingly. In
 less than half an hour the loneliness was again regnant, all the victims hav- | ing been lowed off through gap in the rocks to spacious spoilarium in the 1 lagoon behind, there to await their tran
 sit to the goal of most good things, Lon-
 don town.
 Another way practiced most success | fully by the arnphibious Kanakas of l Polynesia is to slip noiselessly into the water, and, diving beneath the turtle, l grasp the hind fiippers with crossed | hands. One swift and dextrous twist l places the prize on his back, in which l helpless position he is kept with ease upon the surface until the canoe ar-
 rives, and he is transferred to 1t. Among | fa 70 d e1a 1o turtle fishing is a highly favored form
 of sport, and when the reptiles are sur prised among the tortuous shallow
 channels between the reefs or in the all
 most land-locked lagoons, they rarely
 escape. Here it is usual for the fisher
 man to spring upon the turtles back,
 and, clutching the fore edge of the shell
 with both hands, to hang on until his prize is exhausted and speedily brought to the surface.
 But of all the fashions of securing
 this much-hunted creature, that follow ed by the ingenious fisher folk of the Chinese littoral bears away the palm.
 Most voyagers in tropical seas are &C., quainted with peculiar fish, E. remo-
 ra, known generally by the trivial name of the "sucker." The distinguishing characteristic of this fish is laziness.
 Unwilling to exert itself overmuch in the pursuit of food, it has developed an
 arrangement on the back of it's head
 exactly like the corrugated sole of a tennis shoe, and as artificial in appear
 ance as if made and fitted by the hand
 of man. When the sucker finds itself in the vicinity of any large floating body, such as a ship, a shark, or piece
 of f1otsam, whose neighborhood seems
 to promise an abundance of food, it at
 taches itself firmly thereto by means of this curious contrivance, which permits
 it to eat, breathe and perform all nee