The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-11
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC y. HASkIN. Director.
Washington, ID. G.
THE SOURCE or TURTLE sour.

Key West Fla, March 5.-A stencil
OF dead fish that carries a mile. Old
gray rotting wharves surrounded by
brightly painted sailboats and harbor
of vivid tropical blue. Mexican,
Yankee, negro and Italian fishermen
loungi1g about and gossiping in their
several tongues. That is the fish and
turtle market at Key West.
One Of the1e old wharves is of
special intereea. Large square holes
are cut in it's floor. and when you
look thru these holes. you are amazed
to see the dirty water below is filled
with giant turtles. Imprisoned within
! the walls of the wharf, they swim
about with lazy. easy grace, the
l'strokes of their great flippers suggest
ing the wingbeats of eagles Every
few minutes each of them comes to
the surface and discharges his breath
with mighty sigh, then turns and be-
| gins again the endless restless eX-
! ploratio1 of his narrow prison.
These turtles are just like ordinary
mud turtles, except that they are
hundred times as large, and that their
legs and feet are simply great seal-like
| f1fppers built exclusively for SWIM
ming. The largest of them are four
feet long and weigh four hundred
pounds. and they range from that SIZE
down to young ones not much more
than foot in length There are three
! kinds of them-the green turtle, of
which nearly every one has seen an
occasional specimen lying miserably
on its back in front of a restaurant as
an advertisement of the fact that
genuine green turtle soup may be had
there; the logger head, which is also
! regularly sold in the market tho not
so valuable as the green turtle; and the
! hawks bill, which carries on it's back
the material out of which all genuine
tortoise-shell articles are-Made. These
turtles are responsible for the weird
| looking tortoise-rim spectacles which
arc so much affected by young ladies
who wish to appear intellectual-ex-
cept when the said spectacles are
! made of celluloid.
This old wharf is one of the most
| important turtle markets in the coun-
! try. The turtles are for the most part
captured far at sea in trap-nets which
are set oyer the great submarine pas
lures where the turtles feed. Some of
them come from far down along the
coast of Mexico. The boats bring
them in every three or four days, and
they are dumped into these little
prisons. locally known as the turtle
crawls," to await their fate. Some of
them are slaughtered here. Part of
! their flesh is eaten fresh in local ho
tells and restaurants, and part of it is
made into soup and canned, for Key
West boasts the only turtle soup cam
merry in the country. Many of them
Aare shipped alive to the great northern
cities. there to be cooked for the
wealthy epicures who can afford
them.
The sea turtle has perhaps as hard
loras any creature who contributes
to the perfection of our civilization.
Being able to go long time without
food, he is very seldom fed after his
capture, altho this is occasionally
done When he is to be shipped, he
! is fished out of the crawl, laid on his
back. and thence handled like any
other piece of baggage. He lies on
his back for days at time. often in
broiling, sun on a station platform or
in front of the hosiery where >he is
soon to be eaten. 1t is necessary to
keep him on his back. not only to
prevent him from crawling away, but
also because his plastron, or under
shell, is so soft that If he is kept right
side up on hard land the pressure Oh
his vital organs quickly kills him. He
is a strictly marine animal. and can
be kept( in comfort only in a great
tank of sea water.
These great reptiles, which are the
largest of that family except the al
ligators and crocodiles, spend their
whole lives at sea except for the brief
time occupied in laying their eggs.
The loggerheads which lay their eggs
along the Florida coast, are often
captured in the act. The great female
turtle is almost helpless on iand. She
draws herself slowly up the sand to
point above high tide mark, scoops
out a great hole, lays the eggs in it,
and then buries them. Instinct or
| cunning impels her to travel such an
erratic course to and from the water
that the eggs cannot possibly be found
10y trailing her They are often dis
covered by hunters who thrust long
sticks into the sand. probing for the
stores of hidden dainties. For turtle
eggs are very good to eat, and there
are hundreds of them in each nest.
Often the great turtle is captured on
the sands, when she is quite helpless,
but defiant none the less. Unable to
| travel on land more than a mile an
hour, she makeSl no effort to run
away. but blows out her breath with
/ a deep, roaring sound, and If a stick
comes within her reach, snaps it in
| two with her great mandib1es. while
| her beady, snake-like eyes watch every
move of her enemies. But all her
courage and alertness are useless, for
| she is easily turned on her back with
| crow-bars and is then utterly helpless.
If the eggs are undisturbed they
j hatch in about two months. The
4 young turtles crawl into the shallow
|
| large enough to. shift for themselves
in the open sea. A large percentage of
4 each brood is killed by sharks and
/ othe natural enemies before maturity.
1t is generally believed that these
great turtles are veritable cattle of
! the sea, living exclusively by brows-
| ing upon seaweed and other aquatic
vegetation. But, according to Ray
4 mond L. Ditmars. a leading American
authority on reptiles of all kinds,
some that he kept in captivity eagerly
ate fish He thinks it is doubtful
whether they could catch many fish
/ in a wild state. however. and believes
they must be largely vegetarian.
! The green turtle gets its name from
7 the fact that its fat has greenish
/ tinge. 1t gets to be over three feet
/ long and weighs as much as four hun
dred pounds but those seen in the
| turtle market here are mostly from
| fifty pounds to a hundred and fifty
! One n fheSa t1trflaS pnu