Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-01-19
TURTLE Am a6PERsrTIoN.
Was Once Regarded as Sacred by the
Natives of vaiala

The South Sea turtle. though
smaller, is just as rich an article of
| DIET as the green turtle Of the West
Indies. The ocean about Samoa
swarms with turtles, and on certain
of the islands there are beaches
much frequented by them in the sea-
son of laying their eggs. From one
of these beaches a resident of Apia
obtained half a dozen turtles alive.
He had some sort of an idea that by
keeping them for awhile and then
turning them loose they would es-
tablish themselves on his beach and
return regularly in the egg season.
II was a taking theory; it had been
proved to work in the case of brook
trout and Goldfish, and it should sue
coed in the case of turtle. He built
large pen on his beach In the suburb
of Vaiala. Its walls were guaranteed
turtle proof, they included a nice,
sunny beach, a shady stretch of street.
pool which the tide never emptied
Every precaution was taken that
the turtles should not escape, and by
their escape spoil the experiment.
Every provision was p:Gde for the
comfort of the captives, AMI the sup
ply was generous of such articles az
IL was supposed that the turtles fed
upon. The new proprietor of this ac-
climation station set before him the
task of habituating his turtles by
kind treatment and abundance of food
to his particular beach. But there
were others who saw in il Nothing but
turtle farm, and at the same time
that the experimenter was making a
vain effort to get his pets to come at
whistle these others were watching
with watering mouths the fattening
of his turtles.
One fine morning there was a 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 accllmation of sea
turtles was at an end. Very naturally
suspicion fell on the Samoan popula-
ton OF Vaiala. 1t hardly seemed
possible that the turtles could destroy
the wall after 1t had stood against
them so long. But Vaiala as a COM
munity was shocked at the suspicion
that 1t would commit theft and in
! terfere with an experiment which
would result so much to the adyan-
tage of the village. And there was
another reason why the 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 it, In the old days of
heathendom the Vaiala god inhabited
the turtle; it would have been death
to any Vaiala man to eat turtle meat
Now they were all Christians, but
the people were superstitious and
would not have anything 20 do with
turtle.
With equal privacy the native p.-
tor called and rehearsed the same
sad showing as to the efficacy Of his
ministry, converted though they might
be from their old paganism. Vaiala
was yet to superstitious to have any
thing to do with the missing turtles.
Elders of the town council, maids OF
the village. ancient crones who were
supposed to be as wise as witches,
each came under the veil OF secrecy
and confidence with full confession
of the positive sanctity of turtles In
Vaiala, and as result of that SUI
perstition the certainty that the pre-
served animals had escaped and had
not been eaten by the neighbors
1t is a problem In ethics. The pen
was surely strong enough to hold the
turtles. he turtle was really the
ancestral god of Valala, and as such
not to be eaten when they were yet
in heathendom. Yet Vaiala smiled
as those smile who have eaten turtle
with no qualms of theology
delphia Inquirer.