Teaching Parliament to Catch Turtle.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 18, 5 November 1874, Page 4

Teaching Parliament to Catch Turtle.

Large portions of the Polynesian Papers presented to Parliament by Mr Yogel read like parts of travel artd adventure, and are most interesting outside the object with which, they were .presented. Tpke for instance the fol* lowing description of turtle catching at the Qallapagos islands :— There are several ways of catching turtle, but the most usual is to watch .for them at night. When they are taken during the day, it is generally by surprising them while they are asleep on the surface of the water. On those occasions the practice is, so soon as the turtle is discovered, for several persons to go out to him in a canoe, and paddle silently alongside, when they seize him and lift him oh board before he knows what is going on. They are quite harmless, except in the mere matter of .floundering and striking out with their flippers, with which they can deliver a severe. blow. It is very .'rare for tbem to attempt to bite: ' When a turtle is found sleeping, and he Tbe 7 of 1 great size, and but few men to seize himy it is usual to harpoon him. 'During -the breeding season these creatures. are' very 'careless of their safety; they are found in congeries, arid, ; under certain circumstances, exhibit no sense i ! of '-danger, or desire to 'escape "frqm'We ; presence; df man. Whp.n several turtles a'reMh'"this* state, a like number 5 of men, having, approached them m a canoe, will jump overboard and lay hold of them thus :

T ets=9^ cs »9ttaax9nl-mt-trf^^ .' the. man gets Vh'tKe"back^toturtltv^ and takei-'hpldy with his hands off \i» < : front of the: shell j just behind the neck. ..... Thia prevents ..Mm from, s sounding," Athat, is to say, gpinftrdpwA head for* most, as a tartta wilf'a^ alarmed, if tot] pj^Vttatetl^as 'ill ttiw'A' case he is effectually^ ' stopped ?*by c the ' weight of the, man pn ykii-^^'^ffivi 1 i! thus quite helpless, for he has^rio '.idea ■ l of getting rid of his rider, 'except 'by 5 ' diving head firsts and aUows Himself td ■; be steered many! direction his captors may choose., , Thus he is 1 brought up *■ alongside the canoe, and hoisted ihto it without resistance. But in/ playing this little game, which seems so simple, 1 there are several things Which; it is! 1 '" necessary tp know, One of them is,. '-■'■ that a turtle in the Water can cut a '' naked man very dangerously! with his' flippers; another thing to bb avoided is to catch the turtle by the tail. God help the man that knoWs no better than, :u to do so, for the reptile in that case will instantly shut his body, whereby he will hold the, man's hand as tight as ' though it were in a . vice, andi diving "'-. head; foremost, Will take him down 'to ; the bottom of the sea, : ,